MEXICAN VISTAS 



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SENORA DIAZ— ^ age 114. 



Mexican Vistas 



SEEN FROM 



HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS 
OF TRAVEL 



Harriott Wight Sherratt. 




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Copyright, 1899, by Rand, McNally & Co. 






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''And they journeyed frojn Mouni Hor by the way 
of the Red Sea to compass the land of Edom; and the sotil 
of the people was sore discouraged because of the way'' 



TO THE DEAR COMPANION OF ALL MY TRAVELS, 

MY HUSBAND, 

THIS VOLUME IS AFFECTIONATELY 
INSCRIBED. 



CONTENTS, 



CHAPTER I. 

Preparations for Departure. Vaccination. Study of 
Spanish. Some Necessities. Money. Shopping. 
Drinks. Baths. Food. Fruits. Mexican Houses. 
Hotels. Chambermen. Railroads. Street Cars. 
Charms of Mexican Travel 23 

CHAPTER IL 
Historical. The Toltecs the First Republicans. The 
Chichemecs. The Aztecs. The Spanish Rule. 
The Struggle for Independence. Iturbide. War 
with the United States. Juarez' Government. 
The Passing of the Brigands. The Church. The 
Different Races in Mexico Zl 

CHAPTER III. 
Over the Border. The Custom House. The Central 
Plateau. Torreon. Zacetecas. The Fountain in 
the Plaza. The New Woman. The Markets. 
The Street Cleaners.* Mexican Penal System. 
Police. The Cathedral. The Plaza at Night. 
Guadalupe. The Cathedral and Industrial School. 
A Mexican Apothecary. 44 

CHAPTER IV. 
An Interpreter and a Mexican Doctor 54 

CHAPTER V. 
A Mexican Watering Place. The Baths. The Ca- 
thedral and Plaza of San Marcos. A Mexican 
Schoolboy. The Municipal School. An Ameri- 
can Home in Mexico. Drawn- Work. ... 61 



20039 



12 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER VI. 
Some Uncomfortable Neighbors. Marfil, A Great 
Mining Town. The Opera House. The Metho- 
dist Medical Mission. The Pantheon. The 
Prison. Hidalgo the Hero. Homes of Guana- 
juato. In the Plaza 66 

CHAPTER VII. 
Queretaro. A Night Adventure. A Plaza Breakfast. 
Maximilian. The Hill of the Bells. The 
Museum. Queretaro Opals. Hercules Cotton 
Mills. The Aqueduct 75 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Nochistongo Canal. First View of Mexico. Search 
for a Hotel. Street Cars. Cabs. Destruction of 
the Maine. Shopping in the Capital. Mexican 
Herald. Humane Society. Amateur Bull Fights. 
The Senorita Bull Fighters. Orrin's Circus. The 
Theaters 8i 

CHAPTER IX. 
Mexico in Cortes' Day. The Flight of the Spaniards. 
The Alameda. Alvarado's Leap. The Church of 
the Martyrs. Pantheon and Campo Santo. The 
Tree of Noche Triste. The Modern Mexican. 
Black Eyes. An Adventure 90 

CHAPTER X. 
The Cathedral of Mexico. The Zocalo. Academy of 
San Carlos. A High-Priced Guide. National 
Museum. National Palace. Monte de Piedad. . 99 

CHAPTER XI. 
The Church Parade. Physique of the Mexicans. A 
Mexican Mob. Sunday Afternoon on the Paseo. 
The Paseo. Public Monuments. Chapultepec. 
The Mexican Cadets. The Palace. Unpopular 
Americans. The Seiiora's Opinion. The Wife of 
the President. The Republic. Diaz. . . . 106 



CONTENTS 13 

CHAPTER XII. 
The Floating Gardens. La Viga Canal. The So- 
Called Fruit of Romanism. Santa Anita. The 
Village of Mexicalcingo. Cortes' Bridge. 
Ixtapalapan. Hill of the Star. Rekindling of 
the Sacred Fire 118 

CHAPTER XIII. 
A Wooden Saint — Our Lady of Los Remedies. The 
Saint in Politics. The Cloth Saint — Our Lady of 
Guadalupe. Guadalupe, the Holy City, its Sacred 
Spring and Chapels. The Stone Sails. The Ca- 
thedral and Tilma 125 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Interesting Towns in the Vicinity of Mexico. Po- 
potla. Tacuba. Atzcapotzalco. An Overworked 
Ghost. The Ancient City of Tlanepantla. Jail 
Delivery of Merchandise. Tacubaya. Mixcoac. 
San Angel. Coyacan. Battlefields of Cheru- 
busco, Casa Mata and Molino del Rey. Tlalpam. 
Texcoco. A Stern Sovereign and a Poetic and 
Indiscreet Prince. The Coalition. . . . . 135 

CHAPTER XV. 
Cuernavaca. A Beautiful Climate. Gardens of La 
Borda. Palace of Cortes. The Market Place. 
Donna Juana. On the Housetop 146 

CHAPTER XVI. 
The Morning Train. The Mexican Railroad, or 
"Queen's Own." Duties and Pleasures of the 
Mexican Women. A INIexican Commercial Trav- 
eler and Apizaco Canes. In the Cafion of the 
Maltrata. Cafion of the Infernillo. Orizaba. 
The Cotton Factory. The Sugar and Coflfee of 
Orizaba. The Four Cascades. The Bebehanas. 154 



14 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XVII. 
Canon of the Metlac. Cordova. Vera Cruz and Its 
Birds of Prey. Cortes in Vera Cruz. The Inter- 
national Railroad. Jalapa. The Public Lotteries. 
Coatepec. Some Mexican Bridal Couples. . . 163 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
Mexican Human Owls. An Early Breakfast. A Trip 
Over the Mountains. Perote. Mexican Ha- 
ciendas. Malintzi. The Holy City of Puebla, Its 
Salads and Its Battlefields. Puebla Onyx. The 
Cathedral. Holy Week. A New Saint. A 
Search for a Bath. Another Holy City — Cholulu. 
Pyramid of Cholulu. Quetzalcoatl. The Sunday 
Markets. The Churches. The Bull Fights and 
the Beggars 172 

CHAPTER XIX. 
On the Road to Oaxaca. Oaxaca. The Ruined 
Cities. The Indian Idols. Cathedral and Church 
of San Dominguez. The Southern Cross. Diaz 
and Juarez, the Sons of Oaxaca 190 

CHAPTER XX. 
The Start for Mitla. The Zapotec Indians. The Big 
Tree of Tule. The Wayside School. The Organ 
Pipe Cactus. Tlacolulu. The Hacienda at Mitla. 
The Indian Village. The Ruins. The Temple 
Dwelling. The Teocalli. The Custodian. Even- 
ing in the Court. 198 

CHAPTER XXL 
Impressions of a Traveler. Americans in Mexico. 
Thrifty Paupers. A "General Promoter of Indus- 
tries." Estimate of the Northern Indian. Mex- 
ican Lack of Mechanical Ingenuity. The Law 
in Regard to the Switchmen. Lack of Business 
Principles Among the Mexicans. From Puebla 



CONTENTS 15 

to the City of Mexico. Tlaxcala. Hacienda of 
a Mexican President. Return to the Capital. . 209 

CHAPTER XXH. 
A Mountain Adventure.' San Marcos. Some Agree- 
able Traveling Companions. At the Fonda. A 
Slave Woman. An Indian Meal. In Strange 
Company. Over the Mountains in a Chariot. 
The Indian Chairmen and Their Dogs. The In- 
dian Mountain Villages. The End of the Journey. 
The Head-Man and the Village Schoolmaster. 
An Unconquered Race. The Homes, the Cus- 
toms and the Dress of the Mountain Aztecs. . 216 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Sunday at the Mountain Mission. A Mission School. 
A Projected Industrial School. An American 
Baby's Mexican Christening. An Aztec School- 
master and His Pupils. The Descent of the 
Mountains. Other Traveling Companions. . 230 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
From Mexico to Toluca in the Trail of the Brigands. 
Toluca. A Midnight Departure. Protection of 
Human Life in Mexico. Engaging a Sleeper. 
Acambaro. Lake Cuitseo. Living Statuary in 
Bronze. Morelia. Osguerra Plotel. The Zocalo 
and the Cathedral. The Calzada, the Aqueduct 
and the Parks. An Invitation to Microbes. 
Plaza of the Martyrs. Some of the Martyrs. 
Public Institutions and Advantages of Morelia. . 240 

CHAPTER XXV. 
The "Lake Country" of Mexico. Lake Patzcuaro. 
An Abandoned Journey. Patzcuaro. A Trip by 
Freight Train. Room No. 9 250 



l6 CONTENTS 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
In Celaya. Dirt, Dulces and Opals. Irapuato. An 
American Hotel. Mexican Nighthawks. On the 
Road to Guadalajara. Guadalajara. Its Beauti- 
ful Women. Religion and Politics. The As- 
sumption of the Virgin. The Markets. The 
Barranca. The Hospicio. The Park Concerts. 
San Pedro. Falls of San Juanacatlan. Some 
Pigeon-Toed Warriors. A Composite Company. 
Mexican Summer Resort 256 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
The Strawberries of Irapuato. San Miguel de 
Allende. A Pig-Loving Saint and His Wax Col- 
league. The Home and the Neighborhood of 
Hidalgo. San Luis Potosi. A Beef Menu. The 
Excursionists. On the Road to Tampico. Ta- 
masopa Caiion in a Fog. Rascon. El Salto del 
Abra. Choy's Cave. Las Palmas. The Strange 
Disappearance of No. 4. Tampico. Some Home- 
sick Americans. Price of Foods 266 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Turning Northward. The Battlefield of Buena Vista. 

Angels of Buena Vista. Saltillo. Monterey. An 

American City. Saddle Mountain. The Belt 

Line Horse Cars. The Bishop's Palace. Capture 

of Monterey. The Bridge of La Purisima. Topo 
Chico Hot Springs. Hidalgo Park. A Mexican 
Festival 274 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Across the Border Again. An Inquisitive Custom 
House Official. The Custom House Face. A 
Grumpy Pullman Car Conductor. American 
Hats and Garments. The Wooden Houses of 
the United States 282 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page/ 

Senora Diaz Frontispiece. 

Home of an Aristocrat 30 

A Wayside Shrine 35 

Maguey Field 39 

Home of a Peon 41 

Woman Making Tortillas 43 

Plaza and Fountain, Zacetecas 55 

Excursionists Buying Drawn-Work 65 

Hidalgo 71 

Corner of the Plaza, Guanajuato 12) 

Hill of the Bells 78 

A Street in the Capital 84 

Great Spring Near Hercules 87 

Cathedral of Mexico 103 

Aztec Woman With Distafif 105 

Hill and Castle of Chapultepec .•no 

President Diaz 115 

The Viga Canal 119 

Cortes' Bridge 121 

Holy Stairway, Guadalupe 131 

Stone Sails i34 

Trail in the Barrancas i35 

Cortes' Palace, Coyacan 140 

Gardens of La Borda, Cuernavaca i44 

Lake in Gardens of La Borda 148 

Market Place, Cuernavaca 151 



l8 ILLUSTRATIONS 

In a Cofifee Grove, Orizaba 155 

Pyramid of Cholulu 167 

A Mexican Hacienda 173 

Hotel Corridor, Puebla 176 

Aguadors, City of Mexico 183 

On the Streets of Cholulu 186 

A Zapetec Woman 191 

President Benito Juarez 195 

Ferry at Puente Real 196 

On the Road to Mitla 199 

An Organa Hedge 201 

A Crumbling Wall 204 

Specimens of Mosaic 207 

The Burden-Bearers 214 

An Aztec School 218 

Across the Mountains 223 

Descent Into the Valley 226 

Aztec Loom — Four Generations 228 

Morelos 231 

The Mission Church 234 

The "Decent Fonda" 237 

A Mountain Home 241 

The Aqueduct, Morelia 244 

The Calzada, Morelia 246 

Plaza de Armas and Cathedral, Guadalajara 248 

Hacienda at Lake Patzcuaro 25^ 

Falls of San Juanacatlan 263 

Up Tamasopa Canon 264 

Mexican Nat. R. R. Station, San Luis Potosi 267 

Bishop's Palace, Monterey 276 

Hidalgo Park, Monterey 280 



INTRODUCTION. 

In this chronicle — which I hope is not altogether, 
gratuitous — of our travels and adventures in Mex- 
ico I have endeavored to answer some of those 
questions which present themselves to the tourist 
upon the eve of departure for that country. Such 
queries often remain unanswered, for, as our neigh- 
bor republic is constantly changing, the guide- 
books speedily become ancient history, while the 
really artistic folders furnished by the railways and 
the tourist agencies treat only of their own par- 
ticular routes and consequently give but slight 
glimpses of the landscape and the people. While 
aiming to supply this lack I have also in these 
pages, which are transcribed almost literally from 
my notebook, endeavored to bring our neighbor 
over the way a little nearer to us, hoping that we 
may some day know her better and learn to feel for 
her the interest of a sympathizing elder sister. 

To know our neighbor it will be necessary to visit 
her, and she is well worthy a visit. It is true that 



20 INTRODUCTION 

she is given over to germs so that we were almost 
forced to beheve that the Mexicans belonged to the 
great Germanic race; nevertheless the cities of 
Mexico are not so offensive as Constantinople or 
even some of the cities of southern France and 
Italy, while her balmy air, her magnificent ruins 
and her prehistoric architecture compensate, In 
some degree, for her lack of pictorial art. It is also 
true that we missed the Pullman cars and the many 
creature comforts of our latter-day civilization, but 
it is a wholesome experience for the twentieth cen- 
tury American to revert again for a season to the 
simple ways of his fathers. 

In the future our country will doubtless be 
brought into closer and closer relations with the 
Spanish-American nations of this continent. The 
only way we can deal justly with them is to en- 
deavor to see things as far as possible from their 
point of view. Although this point of view^ may 
often seem to us childish and puerile, we may, 
nevertheless, while leading our neighbors up the 
steep grade of civilization, also chance to learn 
something of them. We might even take a lesson 
in that graceful idleness which would be such a 
relaxation to the strain of our busy lives, for if we 
do not speedily mend our ways it is not an utter 
impossibility that long after the Anglo-Saxon race 
on this continent shall have died out from overwork 



INTRODUCTION 21 

and nervous exhaustion the Latins of Mexico may 
languidly roll their cigarettes under the shadow of 
the trees and sleepily speculate upon the causes of 
our downfall. 

But let us dismiss these unwelcome imaginings 
and come back to the present which is still our own, 
Do you, my tourist friend, take with you on your 
journey to Mexico a happy philosophy for hardships 
and a disposition to see in her people neither spec- 
tacles nor beggars, but kindly neighbors ? Live as 
nearly as possible an Aztec idyl with the idle Aztecs 
and make little use of your nose. Study your 
Prescott on the spot and know the romance of the 
land and the people and realize if you can that this 
toiling multitude is the same proud race that defied 
Cortes, that threw ofif the Spanish yoke, that put 
the army of the United States upon its mettle, that 
repelled the French invasion. From its humble 
ranks has risen many an apostle of freedom, many 
a hero. 

And what does it matter if the modern Mex- 
ican be a little careless of his dates and his figures 
— what if he does forget his appointments to-day? 
For him a to-morrow is coming as full of sunshine 
and soft airs as the present, and after that another 
to-morrow, and another and so on, indefinitely ; so 
why should he distress himself that the duty of the 
moment is unfulfilled? Has he not good sense on 



22 INTRODUCTION 

his side? In our neighbor's opinion all desirable 
things are hidden in the mafiana, therefore let us 
hope that in the maiianas to come Mexico may 
find a glorious future for her government and her 
people. H. W. S. 

Rockford, November, 1899. 



MEXICAN VISTAS. 



CHAPTER I. 

When we — Ahasuerus and I — made ready for a 
winter in Mexico, we neglected one important pre- 
caution — we were not vaccinated ; a mistake which, 
later, caused me much anguish of spirit. Many a 
night, as I tossed sleeplessly on my hard pallet 
while the wicked flea pursued me, I imagined my- 
self in the first stages of the smallpox. I arranged 
my worldly affairs, disposed of my humble belong- 
ings, and in my mind's eye saw myself going home 
as fast freight. My first bit of advice, then, to the 
traveler intending to visit Mexico is — be vaccinated. 

While temporarily disabled by vaccination it is 
a wise thing to study Spanish — not the Spanish of 
Cervantes or of Calderon — but those minor classics 
as presented by the Meisterschaft or any good 
Natural Method Primer, for it is very convenient, 
even if you cannot discuss abstruse subjects in the 



24 MEXICAN VISTAS 

Castilian tongue, to be able to check your baggage, 
order your meals, buy tickets, read the posters, and 
be ready with the usual forms of courtesy. 

There is a difference of opinion as to the best time 
to visit Mexico. We went in the winter. The 
Mexicans assured us that we made a mistake. If 
we had gone in the summer, we should, without 
doubt, have also made a mistake. But whether in 
the winter or in the summer, it is well to go by one 
route and return by another. The ideal way for 
those who love sea travel is to enter Mexico by land 
and leave it by water. In such case, however, it is 
prudent to make some previous arrangement with 
the War Department, for a certain tourist who 
could not endure the long overland journey was 
compelled to wait in Mexico all last summer for the 
cessation of hostilities between the United States 
and Spain. 

Of course it is well to carry with you a camera; 
but use it, except for natural scenery, as little as 
possible, for the Mexicans, who are both proud and 
sensitive, object to being photographed. It is 
sometimes possible for a few centavos to obtain a 
sitting from the children or even from a peon, but 
it is courteous as well as politic to defer to the 
prejudices of the people. Above all, do not forget 
your smoked glasses, and if you have plenty of 
trunk room it is wise to take a pillow, for the Mex- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 2$ 

ican pillows, both in form and substance, are like 
bricks. 

The value of the Mexican coins is soon learned. 
The centavo — a copper coin — is the Mexican cent; 
the media is six and one-half centavos ; the real, 
twelve and one-half centavos ; dos real, twenty-five, 
and cuatro real, fifty centavos. The big silver peso, 
or Mexican dollar, is worth — according to the mar- 
ket value of silver — anywhere from forty-two to 
forty-seven cents of our money. The traveler in 
Mexico has ample opportunity to study the ad- 
vantages and disadvantages of the Bryan creed. 
When he crosses the border he will be for once in 
his life rich. His dollars will be doubled, and the 
wear of his pockets as well. 

One peculiar thing in Mexico is the fact that each 
town has practically the monopoly of its special line 
of goods. You will be sorry if you do not buy 
drawn-work in Aguas Calientes and opals in Que- 
retaro. The dulces of Celaya, which taste like con- 
densed milk, are better in their native place than 
elsewhere. Leon is the saddle town, but while 
acknowledging the superior beauty of Leon saddles 
I must insist that the carved leather belts, card 
cases, and bags made in Mexico are inferior to 
those made in California, which are almost as 
cheap, are certainly less clumsy, and, most impor- 
tant of all, have no odor, and consequently do not 



26 MEXICAN VISTAS 

require antiseptic treatment. Of course the shops 
in the City of Mexico handle, to some extent, all 
Mexican goods, but the prices are higher and the 
assortment less varied than in the towns where they 
form a staple. 

The question what shall we eat and wherewithal 
shall we be clothed in Mexico is easily answered. 
By all means wear your most disreputable garments 
and eat what is set before you, giving thanks that 
it is no worse. But the question of drink is an 
ever-recurring problem. The American constitu- 
tion, unlike that of the Latin races, requires water. 
This weakness, in a land where the water supply 
and the sewage have a way of getting mixed, and 
where all the springs and fountains are used as 
public laundries, is, to say the least, unfortunate. 
The natives drink pulque made from the century 
plant, and great fields of this plant — a species of 
agave — cover the country. Indeed, a Mexican 
pulque plantation is more valuable than an Amer- 
ican distillery or brewery, and, perhaps, does more 
harm than either. The blossom stalk of the plant, 
just before blooming, is cut down, and the sap that 
flows from it is gathered by men and boys, who 
insert a gourd into the cup-like cavity at the base 
of the stem, and placing their lips to one end of it 
draw the liquid into the gourd by suction. The 
gourd is then emptied into a sheep or pig skin 



MEXICAN VISTAS 27 

which imparts a rich flavor to the sap. After one 
day's fermentation the Hquid becomes pulque — a 
sweet, stringy, nauseous drink. The second day, 
however, it tastes hke koumiss, and is quite appe- 
tizing; but in either stage, if enough is taken, it 
produces an intoxication similar to that of mor- 
phine. Nevertheless the wise ones say that pulque 
should be used by the traveler, both on account of 
its anti-bilious qualities, which adapt it specially 
to the climate, and as a specific for kidney trouble. 
The milky draught did not tempt us, however, so 
we drank Apollinaris and siphon water (which we 
suspected were manufactured and charged at the 
nearest fountain), sour Spanish wine and yeasty beer, 
All th'e time in the dry air of the high altitudes, we 
perished of thirst and dreamed continually of the 
hydrants and the pure water of home. 

Personally I should like the Mexican better if he 
spent more money on baths and less on cigarettes ; 
but doubtless the Mexican would find me more at- 
tractive if I spent less on baths and more on rouge 
and face powder. It all depends upon one's point of 
view, and the Mexican has reason to think very 
poorly of water in any form. We considered our- 
selves fortunate that, upon our arrival in the 
Capital, we were able to secure rooms with a bath ; 
but the water had so fetid an odor that while bath- 
ing it was necessary to tie a handkerchief over the 



28 MEXICAJvT VISTAS 

nose, so we were in the end driven to patronize the 
baths of Pane y Osorio on the Paseo. This water, 
which comes from natural springs, is sweet and 
clear, the tubs are clean, and the service all that 
could be desired. To an American, whose thoughts 
are constantly directed to the subjects of pure water 
and proper sewerage, the apathy of the Spanish- 
American in this respect is incomprehensible. The 
great sewerage canal which has been so long in 
progress will, if ever finished, be a boon to the City 
of Mexico ; for with proper sanitary conditions the 
Capital will be one of the healthiest cities in the 
world. 

Do not expect a home diet in Mexico. The 
Mexican bread, which is raised with pulque instead 
of yeast, is generally sour and sad-colored, while, on 
account of the lack of refineries in the country, the 
sugar, though sweet and pure, is very dark and 
coarse. Tea as served by the natives is a singular 
brew, and the cofifee. which has the rich flavor of 
furniture polish with an after tang of liniment, is 
about as bad as can be conceived. At many of the 
hotels and restaurants the extract of coffee is served 
with hot goat's milk, and, according to the testi- 
mony of the wise ones, this long-sufifering animal 
also furnishes the lamb and mutton chop of the 
country. 

Nevertheless Mexican cooking, when good, like 



MEXICAN VISTAS 29 

French cooking, which it much resembles, is deli- 
cious. (When I speak of French cooking I mean 
real French cooking — not that horrible conglom- 
eration of sauces which many Americans call 
French cooking.) To be sure we did not care for 
those heavy little pancakes, the tortiUas, nor for 
chile con came — beef with red peppers — but we liked 
the frijoles, and the soups were perfect. The sal- 
ads too — of chicory, curly lettuce, creamy alligator 
pear, tomatoes, and little shreds of onion — are very 
appetizing. The fruits are sickeningly sweet, which 
just suits the Alexican, who has a sweet tooth. The 
granaditas are little pomegranates inclosing a most 
delicious pulp. The zapotes, which are yellow and 
green inside, and of a cheesy texture, look on the 
outside Hke baked potatoes, resembling in this re- 
spect the Cuban sappodilla, albeit they lack the 
beautiful salmon-pink heart which makes the Cuban 
fruit so enticing. The mangoes and chiramoyas, al- 
though insipid to the stranger, are favorite fruits 
with the Mexicans, who also delight in the melons, 
which are really very good, although coarser than 
ours. We had in the tropics a curious fruit called 
papaya. It is the melon from which vegetable pep- 
sin is made. It looks tempting and tastes like what 
it is — a medicine. 

At first glance the Mexican house seems very 
charming and peculiarly adapted to a warm climate ; 



30 



MEXICAN VISTAS 




HOME OF AN ARISTOCRAT, MEXICO. 



but the patio, or court, is open to the stars, and the 
temperature of the table-lands of Mexico does not 
demand such a sweep of air. Indeed the climate of 
the plateau is much like that of southern California 
— perhaps a little milder — and one who has been in 
California in the winter will realize how uncomfort- 
able is the cold weather in a country which has not 
a single fireplace or chimney. In fact, although 
dressed more warmly than at home, we often shiv- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 3 1 

ered in our furs. Nor is the patio better adapted 
to the warm lands near the coasts, especially as the 
Mexicans use the court for a stable. One sultry 
morning, as we were passing a beautiful house in 
one of the cities of the tierra calicnte — a house which 
we had often eulogized as the typically elegant 
Spanish home — a troup of donkeys came plunging 
through the open door of the court. We looked in 
and saw the paved patio covered with straw, refuse, 
and the filth of a barnyard, while the fragrance 
of all the blooming flowxrs could not conceal the 
fact that thirty donkeys had spent the night in the 
court. Indeed, my susceptible nose too often 
apprised me of the fact that somewhere behind all 
the vases and bronze balustrades of the picturesque 
houses dwelt, in the fullest intimacy of family life, 
the cattle and the horses. The floor of the patio 
and of the rooms opening off from it are paved with 
brick, and as they are seldom swept — especially if 
cared for by a woman — they are ruinous to gowns 
and petticoats. The beds are, almost without excep- 
tion, snowy clean, and the sheets and pillow-cases 
are starched — not at all a bad idea in a warm 
climate. Americans usually complain of the hard 
beds, and we ourselves bore upon our persons im- 
pressions of all the different patterns of spring-beds 
used in the republic. It is a cheap and novel 
method of tattooing. 



32 MEXICAN VISTAS 

The hotels in Mexico, which are upon the Euro- 
pean plan, aim to furnish meals more or less palata- 
ble, and there are besides, in the vicinity of the inns, 
good restaurants. When one learns the ways of 
the cafes one can be very comfortable, and if the 
sojourner in the hotel does not make the fatal mis- 
take of giving too large a fee to the servants — who 
are accustomed to receive a few pennies only — he 
is tolerably sure of good service. In most of the 
hotels the rooms are cared for by chambermen 
instead of maids. They are generally neat, careful 
and obliging. It is better to give the soiled linen 
to the chamberman, who has usually in his employ 
some person who will wash it better than it can be 
done in the eminently unsatisfactory steam laun- 
dries. The linen will come back in a sieve-like 
condition from being rubbed upon the stones, but 
it will be delightfully clean and fresh. 

The railroads of Mexico, like those of Europe, 
use first, second, and third class cars. Even the 
first-class cars are, however, none too comfortable, 
and the third-class are much poorer than the third- 
class cars abroad. Except on special or. excursion 
trains no Pullman cars are seen south of the City of 
Mexico. The stage-coaches also sell first and sec- 
ond class fares, but although the accommodations 
seem about the same for both class passengers, it 
is better to buy first-class tickets — unless you wish 



MEXICAN VISTAS 33 

to get out and push when the stage sticks in a 
slough. 

There are no electric roads in Mexico. The 
street cars are drawn by cheerful little mules which 
gallop along to the music of tooting horns and 
cracking whips. The yellow cars are first-class, 
the green cars second-class. The streets of the 
cities change their names every block, or if they 
retain the name, they number — as, San Carlos i, 
San Carlos 2. This peculiarity of nomenclature is 
particularly bewildering to strangers, and one is 
obliged to watch the trails lest he should be lost. 

On the whole, however, in spite of all inconven- 
iences and annoyances, if one is strong, cheerful and 
a good traveler, I know of no more delightful and 
profitable trip than a journey through Mexico, 
especially if one can give time to go into the moun- 
tains or into some of the lost corners of the country 
which are not generally visited by the tourist. Nor 
need one fear to venture in remote places, for life 
and property are safer in Mexico than in some parts 
of our own land. The arm of the law is long and 
sure, and robbers and murderers are given a short 
shrift. The trial is held over the remains of the 
executed criminals, and the jury are apt to bring in 
a verdict of guilty without leaving their seats. Pick- 
pockets are said to abound in the City of Mexico, 
but we had no personal experience of them ; indeed, 



34 MEXICAN VISTAS 

except in Vera Cruz, we found the people almost 
invariably honest, and although we often wearied of 
dirt and foul smells we liked both Mexico and the 
Mexicans. They are an extremely courteous people. 
The raggedest peon lifts his hat in salutation to his 
shabby comrade, whom he invariably addresses as 
"Sehor." The strain of Indian blood in the nation 
gives it both gravity and dignity, and through the 
influence of education our neighbors are fast be- 
coming enlightened. The compulsory education 
law is strictly enforced, and it is a common thing 
to see the policeman haling some truant off to 
school. The schools, which are supported by the 
government, are in many respects equal to our own. 
While I will not deny that the charms of Mexico 
are greater in the retrospect than in the experience, 
still there is always for the traveler some interest- 
ing and novel spectacle. To stroll along the 
deceptively clean streets, to chat with the pictur- 
esque old women who are selling lottery tickets, 
to gaze upon the gay cavaliers with their peaked 
hats, spindle legs, and short-jacketed bodies — 
whom Palmer Cox must surely have taken for his 
model of the Brownies — is diversion enough. 
Then, too, there are long stretches of battlemented 
or stuccoed walls bearing upon their sun-flecked 
surfaces the inscription "No Fijar Annuncios" 
(Post no bills) ; there are glirnpses of flower-decked 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



35 




A WAYSIDE SHRINE. 



courts and dusky Cathedral interiors ; and when one 
is weary, there is always the tiny zocalo or plaza 
near the Cathedral, and the embowered aisles of 
the great city parks, where one may sit among the 
roses, and watch the changing throng. When all 
these delights pall upon the traveler, he can take 
long excursions by the mule-cars to quaint, ill- 
smelling towns, whose half-clothed inhabitants will 
greet him, Mexican fashion, with outstretched, 
open hand. To the citizen of the United States, 
who has no preconceived prejudices, this Spanish- 
American world is a new and fascinating one. 



36 MEXICAN VISTAS 

These neighbors of ours, who speak a different 
language, think different thoughts, and live different 
lives from our own, are well worthy our serious 
consideration, our sympathy, and our friendship. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 37 



CHAPTER 11. 

There is no record of the people who occupied 
Mexico before the coming of the Tohecs. We 
know, however, that the Tohecs, a wandering tribe 
from the north, invaded the country about the year 
650, and that at the time the Goths and Lombards 
were overrunning southern Europe they had already 
established in Mexico a mighty empire. These new- 
comers found the city of Tula already a flourishing 
town. They rebuilt it, gave to it its present name, 
and made it their capital. Mitla, which was named 
for the great King Mitl, was one of their sacred 
cities, and at Teotihaucan, another of their holy 
places, they built the famous Pyramids of the Sun 
and the Moon. 

From the remains now found in Mexico, it is 
evident that the Toltecs were a civilized people. 
They excelled in the arts and sciences of those days, 
as well as in architecture. Strangely enough these 
far-away people were the first to introduce the re- 
publican form of government into Mexico. The 
Toltec kings were allowed to reign for fifty-two 



38 MEXICAN VISTAS 

years, but if a sovereign died before the expiration 
of that time the law provided that a republic should 
replace the monarchy for the unexpired term. In 
acknowledgment of his wise reign Mitl, the good 
king, had his official life prolonged seven years, 
and after his death his widow was allowed to fill 
out the unexpired term. She was succeeded by her 
son, a dissolute prince, under whose sway the Tol- 
tec supremacy rapidly declined. Internal dissen- 
sions contributed to sap the life of the nation, and 
before William the Conqueror fought the battle of 
Hastings, the Toltecs were scattered. More than 
half a century later Mexico was again invaded by a 
northern horde, the Chichemecs, a tribe of barbar- 
ous hunters, dressed in the skins of wild beasts and 
living in caves. The Chichemecs in time gave way 
to the Aztecs, who also came from the north, and 
sweeping down upon the great central plateau, con- 
quered the country. 

The Aztecs founded a powerful empire, which 
lasted two hundred years, or until the coming of the 
Spaniards. This empire Cortes destroyed, and 
governed the conquered nation in the name of 
Spain. After his death, the government was ad- 
ministered by a succession of Spanish viceroys, 
sixty-four in number. The last of these viceroys 
bore the extremely un-Spanish name of John 
O'Donahue, spelt in Spanish, Juan O'Donaju. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 39 

In the year 1810 Hidalgo, a parish priest, inau- 
gurated a rebeUion against Spain. The following 
year Hidalgo and his three generals were captured 
and executed ; but the cause for which these brave 
men died did not die with them, and the struggle 
continued until 1821, when Spain acknowledged the 
independence of Mexico. 

The first president of the Mexican republic was 
Augustin Iturbide. Soon after his election a move 
was miade to change the republic into a monarchy, 
and the crown was offered to a royal prince of 
Spain. This offered kingdom, which, so far as 
territory was concerned, was one of the greatest in 
the world, was refused, and in 1822 Iturbide fool- 
ishly allowed himself to be proclaimed emperor. 
The new emperor and his wife were solemnly 
crowned in the great Cathedral of Mexico. But 
Iturbide was soon obliged to flee for his life, and 
in 1824 he was captured and shot. The other Mex- 
ican emperor, Maximilian of Austria, was, in 1867, 
also executed by the decree of the Mexican repub- 
lic. Between these two hapless emperors there 
were more than fifty presidents and dictators, and 
three hundred revolutions. 

As a result of the war with the United States, 
occasioned by a dispute over a small strip of land 
between the rivers Nueces and Rio Grande, Mexico 
was obliged in 1848 to cede half of her immense 



40 MEXICAN VISTAS 

territory to this country, and the United States 
afterward boug-ht from her the southern half of 
Arizona. In spite of this shrinkage in real estate 
Mexico has still on her hands more land than she, 
with her present methods, can care for. 

After the execution of the Emperor Maximilian 
at Queretaro, President Benito Juarez, a full- 
blooded Indian, ruled Mexico wisely and firmly. 
He died in 1871. In 1876 General Porfirio Diaz 
headed a successful revolution, and was elected to 
the presidential chair. Since then Diaz, who is a 
patriot and a wise ruler, has been many times re- 
elected president. 

President Juarez, upon his election, immediately 
gave his attention to the enforcement of the laws 
against brigandism. Upon the principle that "it 
takes a thief to catch a thief," the shrewdest crim- 
inals were, upon conviction, compelled to serve on 
Ihe police force. This plan, which invested crim- 
inals with a sense of responsibility in the govern- 
ment of the country, worked finely. Brigands 
taken prisoners were compelled to serve against 
brigands, a scheme which was speedily fatal to the 
brigandism fostered by long periods of disorder 
occasioned by the wars. By edict Juarez also freed 
the government from the power and the exactions 
of the church. For a time — although Mexico is a 
Catholic country — no priests were allowed to walk 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



41 




^.^ 




*9i«wii 



HOME OF A PEON. 

the streets in priestly robes, the ringing of the 
church bells was regulated by law, and the rich 
decorations of the churches themselves were con- 
fiscated for the good of the republic. Unfor- 
tunately, there now seems to be a growing revulsion 
of popular feeling. The long black mantle worn 
by the priest too often fails to conceal the vest- 
ment beneath, the bells are rapidly becoming once 
rnore a nuisance, and the church bids fair to attain 



42 MEXICAN VISTAS 

its old-time wealth and power. Republican institu- 
tions in Mexico have more to fear from this silent, 
inward force than from any other foe. 

The people of Mexico are of three races. The 
white race, which comprises about twenty per cent 
of the population, is of Spanish or European 
extraction. The people of this race generally 
hold the government offices, and consider them- 
selves the superior class ; although social standing, 
as in Cuba, does not depend upon the race, and a 
dark skin is no shame in Mexico, where the ques- 
tion of caste is determined, not by color, but by 
social position, wealth, or culture. Juarez, the 
most beloved of all the presidents, was a full- 
blooded Indian, and Diaz himself is a half-breed. 
The Mexican Creoles or mestizos, who comprise 
nearly one-half of the population, are the descend- 
ants of the Spaniard and the Indian. They are the 
working people of the country — the skilled artisans, 
the mechanics, the soldiers and the higher servants. 
As would naturally be expected in a conquered 
nation, the real owner of the soil, the Indian, or the 
half-breed in whose veins the Indian blood pre- 
dominates, is the lowest of all the classes. He is 
the so-called peon, the man who does the hard 
work on the haciendas, the toiler, the drudge. The 
peon, though not really a slave, because of his at- 
tachment to the land, often remains for generations 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



43 



on the same estate, and unfortunately this senti- 
ment of loyalty to the sod, combined with the bonds 
of debt which eternally fetter him, lead to what is 
practically a life-long enslavement. When the peon 
drifts into the city he soon becomes a degenerate ; 
and it is unjust to judge the race from the worth- 
less types seen in the large towns. The mountain 
Indian is a much finer man than the Indian of the 
plain or the hamlet, although I fear that he has, 
with the Indian virtues, the Indian imperfections — 
a lack of ambition and a tendency to drunkenness. 




WOMAN MAKING TORTILLAS. 



44 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER III. 

It is strange that so small a stream as the Rio 
Grande should separate two races, two civilizations, 
two cycles. From the Anglo-Saxon civilization of 
to-day we pass, upon crossing the river, to the 
Spanish-American civilization of one hundred and 
fifty years ago. As we file out of the train to the 
custom house we see only dark faces, and som- 
brero-hatted serape-draped figures, and, most 
foreign of all, we are treated by the custom-house 
officials with a gentle courtesy alien to our experi- 
ence. The examination is soon over — for wine 
and spirits are the principal dutiable articles — and 
we dash of¥ into another world — a world whose 
inhabitants and customs are alike strange to us. 

The route by Eagle Pass carries us along the 
high plateau, in the same path by which the Aztecs 
entered the country. The plateau, which is from 
6,000 to 7,000 feet high, is bordered on both sides 
by mountain ranges, beyond which the land slips 
away to the sea. The country is covered with 



MEXICAN VISTAS 45 

shifting sand, whose only vegetable life is an occa- 
sional clump of greasewood or cactus. The dis- 
tant mountains on both sides of the plateau shut off 
the clouds that rise from the sea on either hand, 
and in some of these districts no rain has fallen for 
seven years, a condition of affairs which by no 
means adds to the comfort of the traveler. 

A ride of fifteen hours brought us to Torreon, 
where we saw for the first time that curious picture 
of Mexican life which was afterward to become so 
familiar to us. The sunny plaza before the station 
was crowded with peaked-hatted, gay-blanketed 
Mexicans who, in spite of the heat, wore their scrapes 
twisted closely around them. Their nether man 
was clothed in the tightest trousers on the thinnest 
legs I ever dreamed of. With their bulky shoulders 
and stilt-like legs, these dark-faced dandies, in gay 
trappings, curiously resembled high-colored birds 
of the heron family. The women wore bright-hued 
rebosas, or shawls over the head, and I was inter- 
ested to see that hoopskirts were still in fashion 
in Mexico ; there were even some old-time tilters 
in evidence. Both sexes wore great flapping san- 
dals of leather, bound to the foot with thongs of 
rawhide. No one, however, was naked, as in Cuba. 

As the day wore on our surroundings grew more 
and more picturesque. Mexico is, in fact, more 
foreign than anything in Europe outside of Turkey. 



46 MEXICAN VISTAS 

The quaint figures of the men plowing with oxen 
and crooked sticks in the fields, the troops of cattle, 
sheep, and goats, whose red-blanketed herder gives 
a bright bit of color to the landscape, the little vil- 
lages where hordes of beggars besiege the traveler 
with jargon prayers for centavos, all are alike curi- 
ous and interesting to the tourist who sees the pic- 
ture for the first time. Nor must we forget that 
most familiar of all Mexican figures — the woman 
preparing tortillas for the humble meal. One 
whom we saw by the wayside was surrounded by a 
flock of peeping chickens, who took advantage of 
her interest in the passing train to peck the dough 
from her hands. 

We reached Zacetecas one evening about ten 
o'clock. For some incomprehensible reason most 
of the railway stations in Mexico are at a dis- 
tance from the towns. Zacetecas is no exception 
to the rule, so we climbed into a dirty old mule-car, 
and, to the music of a tooting horn, joggled up the 
hill two miles to the city. As we had more con- 
fidence in our command of French than of Spanish, 
we chose to go to the French hotel. Our landlord, 
who proved to be a Basque from Bayonne, on the 
Spanish frontier of France, spoke a thick-tongued 
dialect, almost incomprehensible, but fortunately he 
had little difficulty in understanding our peculiar 
needs. We were ushered into a big, brick-floored 



MEXICAN VISTAS 47 

room, opening on a balcony overnanging the street. 
The room, with its two hard pallets, its two dressing 
tables, two comfortless chairs, and two candles, was 
a reproduction of a continental bedroom in a village 
inn. Upon the wall hung two gaudy lithographs — 
one a picture of the young Mozart playing before 
the queen and the other a marriage scene inter- 
rupted by the appearance of the bridegroom's mis- 
tress and child — a decidedly Frenchy work of art. 

In the morning, when we looked from our balcony, 
we saw a long, narrow, cobble-stone paved street 
winding up a hill ; a hill which pilgrims ascend on 
their knees to the Chapel of Los Remedios. All 
around Zacetecas the mountains rise like the rim of 
a bowl. In the bottom and on the sides of the basin 
lies the town, which like many of the Mexican cities 
greatly rese'mbles the crowded hill-towns of Pales- 
tine. La Bufa, or the Buffalo Mountain, where 
Juarez fought one of the battles of the numerous 
revolutions, overlooks the city. There are gold and 
silver in all the hills, but neither silver nor gold 
falls into the hands of the jostling crowds that fill 
the streets, for — in spite of the fact that they are 
continually toiling — bitter, crushing, hopeless pov- 
erty is their lot. An old man passing one morning 
under our windows dropped a bag of wheat which 
broke and scattered the contents in the street. He 
worked many hours gathering up the precious 



48 MEXICAN VISTAS 

cereai, grain by grain. Could there be a more 
touching evidence of patient want than this? 

Zacetecas is more than 8,000 feet above the sea, 
and the rare air of the high altitude renders less ap- 
parent the sickening smells that one naturally ex- 
pects to find in a Mexican city with a swarming 
population. This is fortunate, for even with the 
best will for cleanliness, the poorer people of Zac- 
etecas would be obliged to dispense with water, 
which is scarce and dear in the city. One of the 
most curious sights in all Mexico is the fountain 
in the little plaza, where the women gather every 
morning with their water jars to scoop up the scanty 
and treasured fluid. With infinite patience these 
oily tressed Rebeccas scrape up each precious drop, 
while the "mute, inglorious" Isaacs stand sym- 
pathizingly by, and, let us hope, give to their inam- 
oratas, as they stagger ofif under the weight of the 
heavy red jars, the aid of their prayers. 

I found the "new woman" greatly in evidence in 
Zacetecas. She didn't know she was a new woman 
— bless her — but she certainly was one. She fought 
her own battles, and went into business on her own 
account, and no man said her nay. I watched with 
interest the methods of a courageous soul who ap- 
peared one morning bearing upon her handsome 
head a heavy table. She established herself in a 
sunny spot opposite my balcony, opened an um- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 49 

brella and a folding chair, took from her bag a 
small stock of dulces and bananas, and after a spir- 
ited contest with the proprietor of the store before 
which she located, opened shop according to ap- 
proved methods. A baby slung to her back pro- 
claimed the fact that she had not sacrificed private 
to public duties, but that her "sphere" included all. 

During her business life I saw her sell one banana, 
and a small boy stole two of her dulces, so fearing 
that, even in the land of free silver, she would never 
become a bloated bondholder, I felt myself obliged 
to give her the support of my humble patronage. 

Around the old plaza of the fountain are the mar- 
kets of the poor people. The ground is thick with 
venders who sit upon the pavements with their 
scanty stocks — little piles of potatoes, of peanuts, 
of oranges, or of onions — spread around them. 
Here too are sold sausages, chickens, liver, beans 
or frijoles, chops, garlic, pins, needles, nails, cotton 
cloth, and the thousand and one necessaries of daily 
life. The new market, near the grand plaza of the 
Cathedral, is more pretentious, and is filled with 
great piles of tropical fruit heaped in tempting 
mounds. 

The streets of Zacetecas are kept clean by the 
prisoners in the city jail, who are compelled, in 
chains and under the surveillance of squads of 
mounted policemen with leveled guns, to work out 



50 MEXICAN VISTAS 

their fines. From our balcony we watched with 
sympathy these unwilHng workers, but I beUeve 
that the system is not, on the whole, a bad one. 
Indeed, the penal system of Mexico has some ad- 
vantages over that of our own country. The term 
of a prisoner in the penitentiary is divided into three 
periods. The first is given entirely to penal labor; 
the second allows a little time for amusement, and 
the third is preparatory for freedom, and the prison- 
ers receive pay for their work and are entitled to 
various privileges. 

The best-dressed and most impressive persons in 
Zacetecas are the policemen. They wear white 
caps and neat belted suits of dark blue trimmed 
across the breast with festoons of white cord. In 
the day time they carry a baton and swing a re- 
volver from their belts ; in the evening they add to 
their equipment a lighted lantern, and the long rows 
of these lighted lanterns extending up and down the 
street at night give the comforting assurance that 
the guardians of the peace are on duty. These 
policemen, on the kindergarten principle of keeping 
mischievous people busy, are often chosen from 
the most dangerous criminals. I can testify that 
they are efificient officers, for during one afternoon 
seven men were arrested under my window. The 
principal cause of arrest is drunkenness. When 
the offender cannot pay his fine — and he never can 



MEXICAJ^ VISTAS 5 1 

— he is sent with the chain-gang to work it out. 

There is at Zacetecas a very good Cathedral with 
a wonderfully, but not beautifully,- carved front, 
although for Indian work it is fairly creditable. 
Inside there is a famous painting, not in the least 
bad, which is said to have been done by a boy seven 
years old. While we were in the Cathedral vespers 
began, and the same boy — or some other one — 
opened service with the most awful voice I ever 
heard. Indeed, the music in its entirety was so 
horrible that it quite thrilled us. 

The center of social life in Zacetecas seems to be 
the plaza near the Cathedral, where the band plays 
in the evening and the young people promenade. 
The youths form in line and march in one direction 
while the maidens march in the opposite one. This 
is really another market on the plaza, where most 
of the Mexican marriages are made, for as the two 
lines pass each other, by some sign known only to 
lovers an understanding is established, and the 
maiden is wooed and won. In some of the Mexican 
cities there is a double ring — one for the upper 
classes, the other for the lower classes. Our per- 
sonal advent into the plaza circles of Mexico could 
hardly be called a social triumph. First Ahasuerus 
marched with me in the women's procession, and 
was covered with contumely as with a garment; 
then I made matters worse by joining his party. 



52 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and in the end we were only too glad to sit down 
on a cold stone bench and play the modest part of 
humble and chilly spectators. 

It is an amusing experience to take the street 
cars in the plaza of the fountain, and slide down by 
gravity six miles to the town of Guadalupe, where 
there is a fine old church with a curiously carved 
front. The church contains a modern chapel over- 
loaded with gilt, said to be the most costly in Mex- 
ico. The convent, which was formerly a part of 
the church, has been confiscated by the govern- 
ment and is used for an industrial school, where 
boys are seriously and practically taught the dif- 
ferent trades. We went into some of the depart- 
ments and saw the carpenter shop, the serape fac- 
tory, the hat-braiding and the shoemaking estab- 
lishments, and the bakery. In this well-ordered 
institution more than one hundred boys are each 
year prepared for a life of honest toil. 

As I waited in Guadalupe for the coming of the 
half-dozen panting mules who were to drag us up 
the steep hills, I seated myself in a drug store and 
observed Mexican methods of dispensing medicines. 
The counters of this particular shop were like the 
rails of a grand altar, and the drugs were stored in 
carved choir-stalls with glass doors. On the high 
altar were piled bottles of patent medicines, promi- 
nent among them the familiar "bitters" and "tonics" 



MEXICAN VISTAS 53 

of our own land. The druggist seemed to be a sort 
of high priest, who prescribed penitential doses and 
then sold them. Everything was thick with dirt, 
even to the face and hands of the high priest. 



54 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER IV. 

We were no sooner installed in our quarters in 
Zacetecas, than a small but important person, 
clothed in imitation x\merican attire, with a hat all 
too wide for his shrunk brain, made his appearance. 
"Sefior, Seiiora," he said. "I am interpreter. I 
spik the Spanish, I spik also the Inglis. I am at 
your service. Can I do some tings for you?" 

"Yes," I rephed. "You can get me some blue 
glasses. I have broken mine, and this glare blinds 
me." 

The interpreter regarded me for a moment, doubt- 
fully, then he placed his dingy hand on his heart, 
with a reverent inclination, and said, "Sefiora, at 
your service. I go." 

He was gone the greater part of the day. When 
he returned he bore in his arms a number of small 
packages wrapped in newspaper. He carefully un- 
wrapped the little parcels and placed the contents 
in a row on the table. 

"Sefiora," he said apologetically, "I find not many 



MEXICAN VISTAS 55 

blue glasses ; but the Seiiora may be pleased to like 
the white glasses; therefore T bring also the white." 
I looked at the row of tiny objects, and then 
walked to the window to conceal a smile. The 
poor fellow had succeeded in obtaining a quantity 
of little wine-glasses, some blue, some white. There 
is not a town in the United States where so curious 
a collection could have been found. I explained to 
him, as gently as I could, what I wished, and he 
rushed away enthusiastically. In a short time he 
returned with an assortment of goggles that made 
me shiver, but I selected the most unobtrusive, and 
wore them as a penance all winter. 

The morning- after our arrival in Zacetecas I 
arose, took my usual cold bath, and in a few mo- 
ments was in the throes of sciatica. I could not 
move an eyelash without acute anguish. We were 
in despair, but I put a brave face on the matter, 
assuring Ahasuerus that I would soon get well by 
"the light of nature." But the day wore on, and 
the light of nature seemed to be snuffed out. 

"We must have a doctor," said Ahasuerus. "You 
can't have a fit of sickness in this God-forsaken 
town." 

"I decline to have a serape and sombrero doc- 
tor," I retorted despairingly. "He'd give me cac- 
tus tea and powdered lizard." However, Ahasuer- 
us was firm, and the landlord was summoned. 



56 MEXICAN VISTAS 

"Monsieur," I demanded plaintively, "do you 
knovv of a good doctor?" 

"Mais, oui Madame," responded the landlord, in 
his fat-tongued French, "I know a docteur mag- 
nifique. He has recovered me when I go to die of 
the ill in the head." 

"All right," exclaimed Ahasuerus, cheerfully. 
"He's just the fellow I want. What's his address ?" 
he continued, taking out his note-book. 

"Comment, Monsieur?" 

"Where does this doctor live?" 

"In Bayonne, Monsieur. It makes itself near to 
the border of Spain. He is a great docteur." 

Ahasuerus glared wrathfully at the landlord, but 
the landlord's fat face was impenetrable. 

"But do you know no doctor in Zacetecas, Mon- 
sieur?" I queried. "I am ill and must have a phy- 
sician." 

"That is great damage," announced the landlord, 
plaintively. "Madame is ill and takes not the air 
of Zacetecas." 

My private opinion was that Madame had taken 
too much both of the air and the water of Zacetecas. 
However, I mildly responded: "Perfectly, Mon- 
sieur; you are right. Do you not know a doctor 
in Zacetecas — a good doctor — who will cure me 
so that I can get out and see your beautiful city 
before I leave it?" 



MEXICAN VISTAS 57 

"Mais, Si, Madame," with renewed confidence. 
"I know a docteur very good. He is pharmacien" 
(druggist). 

"A pharmacien? But does he know anything 
about diseases?" 

"Certainement. Madame will tell him that she 
has a maladie, and then he will know that she is ill, 
and he will give her an ordonnance" (prescrip- 
tion). "He is bon pharmacien, bon docteur — pour 
les chevaux" (for the horses). 

"A horse doctor?" Ahasuerus and I groaned in 
concert. 

"But, landlord," I protested, "there surely must 
be some other doctor in town. Can't you tell us 
of any real doctor ?" 

"Pardonnez-moi, Madame," replied the landlord, 
grudgingly, as if at last compelled to reveal a sacred 
trust. "I know a docteur sage, O, tres sage. But 
he is Germain." 

"Very well ; I like German doctors ; the best doc- 
tor I ever had was a German. Does he speak 
French or English?" 

"Madame, the good docteur knows all — all ; he is 
dentista." 

"Dentista? But I don't want a dentist; there is 
nothing the matter with my teeth. I have the rheu- 
matism." 



58 MEXICAN VISTAS 

"What is it that I tell you ? It is that the good 
docteur knows all." 

"I vote for the dentista," pronounced Ahasuerus, 
decidedly. ''Where can I find him?" 

"Monsieur, I send to seek him ; Voila ; I haste 
myself — I run." 

Monsieur Jean "hasted himself" with such good 
results that within the half hour a gentle knock at 
the door announced the coming of the dentista. 
Ahasuerus opened the door. An alert, bright-eyed 
man, in the conventional American dress, appeared, 
greeted us in perfect English, and in a minute, with 
quick professional tact, was master of the situation. 

"You are in perfect health, except that you suf- 
fer," he said. "Why have you the sciatica?" 

"I am sure I cannot tell, doctor." 

"Did you take a cold bath this morning?" 

"Yes ; but that didn't hurt me any ; I am accus- 
tomed to it." 

"Nevertheless, that is the cause of the trouble. 
I have known cold baths to be fatal in Zacetecas. 
We are more than 8,000 feet above the sea, and 
evaporation is so rapid that a chill is almost certain 
to follow a cold bath. The only safe bath here is a 
hot one, taken at bedtime. The Zacetecans, who 
know their climate, are said to bathe but twice 
— once before their first communion, and again 



MEXICAN VISTAS 59 

after they are dead. Can you take bad-tasting 
medicine ?" 

''I can take anything, doctor." 

"Good! A model patient. I will send you a 
Mexican draught that will taste vilely, but I will 
promise you that you will be well enough to-mor- 
row to walk down to my office and see my new 
electrical apparatus and the X-ray machine that I 
have just brought from New York." 

The Mexican draught soon arrived in a black 
junk bottle that had a decidedly disreputable ap- 
pearance. From the smell and the taste it might 
have been prescribed by the horse doctor himself. 
Nevertheless it did its work, and the next day I was 
able to take the twelve-mile trip to Guadalupe, and 
to visit the doctor in his cozy bachelor quarters 
overlooking the Cathedral plaza ; and there, in that 
far-ofif benighted land, I, a citizen of the United 
States, and a so-called progressive woman, made 
my first acquaintance with the X-ray. 

As we walked away from the doctor's office — to 
quote his own words — ''no longer patients, but 
friends" — we spoke sorrowfully of his exile in that 
far-away land — an exile necessary for climatic rea- 
sons, and endured cheerfully and courageously. 
And we said to each other, "After all, the best mis- 
sionary is an intelligent and conscientious physi- 
cian; for surely there is no mission more holy or 



60 MEXICAN VISTAS 

more Christ-like than the blessed mission of heal- 
ing." 

As we left Zacetecas, Monsieur Jean delivered the 
following valedictory : "You see ; what is it that I 
tell you ? It is that at my house you have ah things. 
You desire the water of minerals — behold the bon 
Vichy. You wish the glass of blue — it is yours. 
You demand the good docteur — he is equally at 
your service. All things you have in my house. 
Monsieur, Madame, are you content?" 

And we were content. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 6l 



CHAPTER V. 

It is well, if possible, to leave Zacetecas by day- 
light, for, as the train winds up the mountains, there 
is a charming view of the verdant bowl in which the 
city lies. The distance to Aguas Calientes is about 
seventy-five miles, and the scenery along the road, 
when the dust is not too thick, is thoroughly enjoy- 
able. The Hotel Washington in Aguas Calientes 
is, Mexican fashion, more than a mile from the sta- 
tion, but the mule-car ride through the quaint, nar- 
row streets is well worth taking. 

Aguas Calientes — warm waters — is noted for its 
baths. The best springs are those near the railway 
station, where for twenty-five centavos one can have 
a refreshing bath with the added luxury of a sheet, 
a towel, a little wash-rag resembling a bird's nest, 
made of the fiber of the cactus, and a soap tablet. 
These little tablets make a snowy lather, and are 
very healing to the skin, and one really wonders 
why the Mexicans are so wedded to dirt when they 
have such superior soap. The bathrooms, which 
are cold cells with stone floors, and stone steps lead- 
ing down into the tubs set beneath the floor, are 



62 MEXICAN VISTAS 

not so satisfactory as the baths themselves. The 
velvety soft water is said to be good for rheumatism, 
and I believe it, for Ahasuerus and I, after the first 
trial of it, promptly became confirmed rheumatics. 

The Grand Baths, which are about a half-mile 
east of the station, are open-air baths. They are 
named for the apostles, and one can take a St. Peter, 
a St. John or a St. Mark, as best pleases him. They 
are of different temperatures, but all hot. From 
the spring at the Grand Baths runs a steaming 
brook which is used by the poorer people both for 
laimdry and bath-house. The women are always 
washing on the stones, and sometimes they are 
sporting in the water. In spite, however, of the 
glowing romances of the guide-books, we saw noth- 
ing fascinatingly improper in these public baths. 
For studies in the nude, Mexico, as compared to 
Cuba, offers few advantages. Indeed, we saw noth- 
ing in Aguas Calientes that the traveler cannot see 
at the springs in southern France or Italy. 

There is a fine Cathedral at Aguas Calientes and 
some good churches, all of which contain creditable 
pictures by a dead and gone local artist — Juan de 
Lopez by name. In front of the Cathedral is the 
plaza of San Marcos, which is beautiful — for a trop- 
ical park. The parks of the southern lands are 
never so beautiful as those of our own climate, for 
dusty orange trees and grassless -reaches of white 



MEXICAN VISTAS 63 

sand do not charm the eye as do our great elms and 
velvety slopes of greensward. In the park we met 
a Mexican schoolrboy of sixteen studying his Ger- 
man grammar under the trees. He greeted us with 
graceful and unaffected cordiality, and seemed to 
take great delight in our society. He explained 
that, although Americans came often to Aguas Cali- 
entes, and a few were residents of the city, he seldom 
had an opportunity to speak at length with them. 
This boy was a pupil in a private school and was 
studying to be a civil engineer. He told us that the 
professional men in Mexico are required by the 
schools to speak English, and that the study of the 
language is creeping even into' the municipal 
schools. Our young friend himself spoke English 
slowly but correctly. 

As we came from the park our attention was at- 
tracted by a peculiar humming noise. We followed 
the sound, and found ourselves in one of the munic- 
ipal or common schools. The Mexican scholars 
have a way of studying aloud in a half-chant, half- 
buzz, that is very nerve-racking, and that makes 
of the school-room a perfect bedlam. In the dis- 
tance this buzz resembles that of an invading army 
of grasshoppers. 

The Hotel Washington, like many other Mexican 
hotels, is only one story in height. The long-grated 
windows of our room encroached upon the side- 



64 MEXICAN VISTAS 

walk, so that all the busy life of the streets passed 
before us, and I could almost touch the little burros 
as they ambled by. We went one day with a 
friendly countrywoman to see the house she was 
fitting up for a home in the city. American in- 
genuity and American principles of sanitation were 
making an ideal habitation of the Mexican dwelling. 
The rooms, of course, all opened on the sunny 
paved court, and the startling innovations of fire- 
places and bathrooms had been introduced. We 
climbed to the housetop, an important feature of 
Mexican homes, and we heartily indorsed the 
schemes of the prudent mistress for strengthen- 
ing the roof. Certainly the heavy stone roofs of 
the Spanish-American buildings, which too often 
rest upon rotted supports of wood, must be a danger 
to the people. In the kitchen through which we 
strolled, the range consisted of two little basin- 
shaped grates for the burning of charcoal, which 
were inserted in the cooking table. 

Of course every one who goes to Aguas Calientes 
buys drawn-work, which is cheaper and better there 
than in the City of Mexico. As we were strolling 
near the depot, one day, an American excursion 
train came in. In an instant the tourists were be- 
sieged by the drawn-work venders, and many a 
sharp bargain was driven before the train pulled out. 
It is well for buyers to remember that the work 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



65 



should be done on a good quality of linen, and that 
the long-thread stitches are neither durable nor 
desirable. 




EXCURSIONISTS BUYING DRAWN-WORK. 



66 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER VI. 

The tourist who is interested in the country 
through which he passes should make the journey 
from Aguas Cahentes to the City of Mexico by 
dayhght. The sight of the irrigating ditches, the 
waving wheat fields and the quaint towns along the 
route will do much to console him for the omni- 
present dust. At Leon, whose green valley is a 
veritable oasis in the surrounding desert, he can 
buy one of the famous Mexican saddles or an 
artistic bridle. 

We passed a terrible night at Siloa. Our next- 
door neighbors — Mexicans — talked and laughed at 
the top of their voices, all night long. When they 
thought we might possibly be asleep, they pounded 
upon the walls of the partition and even took the 
trouble to come out on the gallery upon which all 
the rooms opened, and knock on our door. The 
Spanish-American, at least in Mexico and Cuba, is 
a night-hawk who never sleeps himself, and who 
resents sleep in others. 



MEXICAN VISTAS d'] 

At Siloa we left the main line and journeyed 
through a charming valley as beautiful as that of 
San Gabriel in California, to Guanajuato. The hill- 
sides were still brown, but when the rains come, 
and the land bursts into great mounds of bloom and 
verdure the region must be a paradise. At Marfil, 
a quaint little village, we took the mule-car for 
Guanajuato. The line runs up a creek whose bed 
is full of gold and silver. According to popular 
report it is the custom in the valley to soak the 
pigs who wallow in the water, to save the silver 
deposited in their bristles ; but I should not like to 
be made responsible for that story. We were also 
told that one-sixth of all the world's supply of silver 
comes from Guanajuato — another statement I am 
not prepared to defend with my dying breath. At 
all events, Guanajuato is a very rich town; not at 
all like its rival silver town — poor, starving Zace- 
tecas. There is a beautiful opera house opposite 
the plaza, the finest I ever saw — not even excepting 
the Grand Opera House in Paris, which may be 
more costly, and certainly is larger, but not nearly 
so beautiful. And yet to reach this opera house 
and the prosperous town, we passed down the cafion 
of Marfil, three miles in length, and saw the hill- 
sides-piled with flat-roofed adobe hovels. Up the 
steep declivities staggered broken stairways upon 
which squatted dirty children and half-clothed men 



68 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and women ; while dusty, twisting pathways, which 
seemed to go down nowhere in particular, sent 
down clouds of sand upon the passer-by. It was 
a picture of squalid misery that could hardly be 
equaled at Zacetecas. 

One of our fellow passengers, the only English- 
speaking person, except ourselves, upon the car, 
volunteered to show us the way to the Pantheon. 
When we left the car together he led us, to our 
surprise, to a pretty vine-embowered Spanish house 
and introduced us to the Rev. Mr. C. We found 
we were in the Methodist Medical Mission, the only 
one of its kind, I believe, in Mexico. Our first 
acquaintance. Dr. S., had almost completed a hos- 
pital of forty beds, for the treatment of the sick of 
any faith, or no faith — truly a Christ-like enterprise. 
There is, in connection with the hospital, a church 
of more than three hundred members, many of them 
strong men in the community. The work of these 
missionaries has not been done without opposition. 
The men who, twenty years ago, organized the 
movement were twice mobbed, and once escaped 
with their lives only through the humanity of a 
"liberal" Mexican, who disguised them as peons 
and so conducted them through the mob. At pres- 
ent the spirit of hostility to the work of the church 
is considerably modified. 

We made the trip to the Pantheon on burros. I 



MEXICAN VISTAS 69 

found burro-riding much more comfortable than 
the hard mule-riding of which I had had former ex- 
perience in California. I had no saddle — merely a 
pack — but the motion was as delightful as that of a 
rocking-chair. When I came, afterward, to know 
and to love the Mexican burros, I came to believe 
in the transmigration of souls, for it seemed to me 
that the army of saints and martyrs must have gone 
into the bodies of those patient, kindly, little burden- 
bearers. Whenever I saw them climbing the cliffs 
so laden that only their deer-like legs were visible, 
when I heard the cheery ring of their pretty hoofs 
upon the stony street, I sent them a blessing from 
my heart. Surely there is nothing in animal nature, 
and there is little in human nature, that can excel in 
faithfulness this patient friend of man. 

The Pantheon has a big square wall surround- 
ing a large court. In these walls are the vaults for 
the reception of the dead, the whole somewhat re- 
sembling tiers of postoffice boxes. For the sum of 
$25 a box may be occupied for five years. At the 
end of this time the lease may be renewed or a per- 
petual lease may be obtained. As, however, the 
perpetual lease costs $125 — a fortune even to the 
well-to-do Mexican — most of the bones are cast out 
in a few years to make room for others. By the 
peculiar action of the dry air, the bodies in the 
vaults become mummified, and if we descend to the 



yO MEXICAN VISTAS 

underground corridors we shall see long rows of 
these mummies standing upright, the men on one 
side of the passage, the women on the other. At 
the end of the corridor, looking like rubber dolls, 
are the blackened bodies of the children. We were 
told the story of a woman who went down into the 
crypt and was unexpectedly confronted by the body 
of her husband. Naturally the shock threw her 
into convulsions. The corridor is about five hun- 
dred feet long, and it is two-thirds full of bones 
which have been taken from the vaults above. 

I understand that since we were in Guanajuato, 
these mummies have, by a decree of the church, been 
clothed in white linen Mother Hubbard wrappers. 
This must add to the horrors of the grisly sight, and 
it seems a wrong to the helpless dead to preserve 
their bodies in so ghastly a manner. Better is it, a 
thousand times, to return to the bosom of dear 
mother earth, and through her marvelous processes 
of resurrection spring up again in the blooming 
flowers and the waving boughs. 

At the prison in Guanajuato, Hidalgo, the parish 
priest, struck the first effective blow for Mexican 
independence. Hidalgo was more than a parish 
priest — he was philosopher, scientist, and political 
economist. In his desire to increase the resources 
of his native land, he planted a vineyard, raised silk- 
worms, and established a porcelain factory. The 




D. MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COKTl-LLA—Jiage Jl. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 7I 

Spanish government, jealous of the development 
of Mexican products, destroyed his vineyard and 
burned his factory. Hidalgo revolted, and with an 
Indian army marched upon Guanajuato. The first 
attack was made from the mountain overlooking the 
prison, but the stones and paltry firearms of the In- 
dians proving of little avail against the thick walls 
of the fortress, one of the insurgents volunteered to 
carry, after the manner of his people, a flag-stone 
upon his back, and under the protection of his bur- 
den, fire the fortress doors. The plan succeeded, 
the humble hero burned the doors, and Hidalgo's 
band entered and slew the Spaniards, whose blood 
still stains the wall and stairway. A year later 
Hidalgo and his three generals — Allende, Aldama, 
and Jiminez — were captured, and executed at Chia- 
huahua, and their heads were brought to Guana- 
juato and hung upon the four corners of the prison. 
Ten years after Mexico succeeded in throwing off 
the Spanish yoke. Then the Mexicans carried the 
heads of their heroes to the Capital, and with loving 
rites laid them under the Altar of the Kings in the 
great Cathedral. Hidalgo, the Romish priest, the 
Mexican, has the New England type of face — the 
same type we see in the signers of our own consti- 
tution. It is the face of both a dreamer and a doer, 
an enthusiast as well as a man of judgment. 

Unlike Zacetecas, Guanajuato has a plentiful 



72 MEXICAN VISTAS 

water supply, and the town is fresh and blooming. 
The water is taken from a reservoir — a marvelous 
piece of engineering — in the mountains above the 
city. Up the cafion, down which flows the stream 
from the reservoir, are the homes of the higher 
classes. Many of the houses are built over the 
water, and, with their bowering vines, they are en- 
chanting. Through the open doorways we could 
catch glimpses of flower-decked courts and noble 
stairways with balustrades of marble or bronze. The 
churches of Guanajuato are, with the exception of 
the Cathedral, uninteresting, although in one of 
them we saw an exquisite copy of Correggio's Holy 
Night. 

The crowd that passes the central plaza in Guana- 
juato is a motley one, but the American and English 
elements are almost entirely wanting. This is truly 
the land of ''Grandfather's Hat," for one generation 
after another succeeds to the treasured headgear. 
In its holy crown the wearer carries all the germs 
collected through long ages, besides some other 
things — a bottle of pulque, some sandals or a cold 
lunch. If he is fortunate enough to possess two or 
more sombreros he piles one on top of the other, 
and travels around like an animated Chinese 
pagoda. 

All day long in the hot sunshine the endless pro- 
cession marches by, the men, in spite of the fervent 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



73 




CORNER OF THE PLAZA, GUANAJUATO. 



heat, hugging themselves in their gay serapes, and 
the women, who come to fill their water jars at the 
fountain, twisting their rebosas around their heads. 
At intervals a Mexican dandy goes by, wearing a 
gayly embroidered felt sombrero, his bulky shoul- 
ders and broad hips sharply defined by his short, 
tight-fitting jacket, and his revolver-decked sash 
oddly topping legs of superhuman tenuity. Priests, 
with worn dark faces, marked with the blue line of 



74 MEXICAN VISTAS 

the shaven beard, mutter their prayers to the sum- 
mer sky, the lottery venders cry their wares in high, 
shrill voices, beggars wrapped in rags demand alms 
of the passer-by; and every one — beggar, peon, 
priest, and dandy — lifts his peaked hat reverently as 
he passes the door of the holy Cathedral. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 75 



CHAPTER VII. 

Queretaro, as all the world knows, is the opal 
town. When, upon our arrival, we descended from 
the train, we were immediately surrounded by the 
blanketed venders of the precious stones, none of 
whom seemed to see the humorous aspect of selling 
opals in pitch darkness — it was ten o'clock at night 
— but answered our scoffs with a courteous gravity 
that was a rebuke to us. Before we could find our 
baggage all the street cars and carriages had disap- 
peared, and we were obliged to walk to the hotel, a 
distance of more than a mile. Not a single light 
was visible as we peered down the lonely road, but 
we hunted up an uncommunicative peon to carry 
our handbags, and with stout hearts started on our 
solitary way. It soon proved, however, to be by 
no means solitary, for a ragged escort sprung up, 
seemingly from the dust of the road, and attended 
us, begging, protesting, jabbering. When the at- 
tentions of our staff became too oppressive, police- 
men with lighted lanterns miraculously appeared 
upon the scene, and, one going before and one fol- 
lowing, lighted us for a short distance on our way. 



76 MEXICAN VISTAS 

These sudden appearances and disappearances half 
frightened, half encouraged us. If they conveyed 
to us a hint of the danger of our night walk, they 
also assured us that we were carefuUy looked after. 
It seemed to me that we waded through deep 
sand and stumbled over sharp rocks for half the 
night ; but we came, at last, to a dim plaza, lighted 
by flaring lamps. Our guide suddenly turned down 
a dark, narrow street, and, although visions of mid- 
night robbers and assassins danced before our 
suspicious eyes, we stumbled after him. We en- 
tered a low doorway, crossed an unlighted court, 
groped our way up a perfectly dark stairway, and 
at last came to a blank, black space, from whose 
depths a gruff voice cried in Spanish, ''No rooms." 
I uttered an exclamation of horror, but Ahasuerus 
assured me that there was another hotel, and we 
plunged down again into the street. We crossed 
the dimly lighted plaza, entered another hole in 
the wall, and feeling our way with our feet we 
climbed upward into a great, cold, brick-floored 
hall, through whose many windows gleamed a faint 
but blessed starlight. Our guide knocked at 
a door, and after a great deal of discussion, not en- 
tirely amicable, among the inmates of the room, a 
half-dressed man appeared bearing in his arms a 
pile of bed linen and towels. He led us into a 
cheerless room containing three beds, and making 



MEXICAN VISTAS "J"] 

Up all of them, so that we could have a bed and a 
half apiece, he placed a forlorn candle on the rusty 
iron stand, and left us to our slumbers. We piled 
the furniture against the door, which had no lock, 
hid our valuables, and in a few minutes forgot our 
fears in sleep. 

We were wakened early in the morning by hide- 
ous cries, and looking out we saw that the plaza 
market, with its vociferous market women, its pot- 
tery venders, and opal merchants, was beneath our 
windows. One of the market women was serving 
a novel breakfast dish that seemed to fill a long- 
felt want. It was as thick as molasses, and as black 
as ink, but from its odor I think it was a beef stew. 
The eager peons gathered around the vender and, 
squatting upon the ground, bought and greedily 
partook of the brew, sopping in it the sour bread 
which they took from the high crowns of their dirty 
sombreros. The odor of garlic came in at the win- 
dows, and we, ourselves, did not care for any break- 
fast. 

Queretaro will be remembered as the place where 
Maximilian made his last stand against the Mexican 
army. There is no tragedy in history more pitiful 
than that of Maximilian. Deserted by the wily 
Napoleon, frowned down by the United States, re- 
jected by the Mexicans whose sovereign he wished 
to be, he suffered his last humiliation when Lopez, 



78 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



a Spaniard and an officer in his own army, opened 
the city gates to the enemy, and deUvered the em- 
peror into the hands of the Mexicans. It was a 
sorry end for a prince of the house of Hapsburg, a 
Count of Savoy, a bright and shining light in the 
court circles of Europe, to die by the edict of a tat- 







HILL OF THE BELLS. 



terdemalion nation. In vain the United States pro- 
tested, in vain the heroic Princess Salm-Salm, riding 
alone one hundred and fifty miles through desert 
sands, pleaded, upon her knees, for Maximilian's 
life; Juarez remained firm, and Maximilian was 
shot. By the side of the blonde Austrian prince, the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 79 

dark-browed Mexican, Miramon, and the swarthy 
Indian Mejia, died bravely for the Church and the 
government they beheved to be of God. Had 
Maximilian lived, he would have been the present 
heir to the throne of Austria, and he might have 
spent a long and useful life, with Carlotta, the unfor- 
tunate wife whom his untimely death consigned to 
a mad-house. As I stood on the stony ''Hill of the 
Bells," where Maximilian looked his last upon the 
world, I was not ashamed of the tears that filled my 
eyes for a life so wantonly thrown away. 

Queretaro is full of Maximilian. The palace in 
which he and Carlotta lived during the siege of the 
town is now a museum. There we registered our 
names in a book upon the table where the emperor's 
death warrant was signed, with ink from the ink- 
stand used in signing it. We saw the stools upon 
which Miramon and Mejia sat during the trial — 
Maximilian was ill and could not be present — the 
coffin in which the emperor's body was brought 
back to the palace, and many other relics. During 
the siege the plaza was Maximilian's favorite resort. 
From it he watched the contest, and the Mexicans, 
learning the fact, trained their guns upon the spot. 
A shattered fountain is shown as the memento of 
this hostile fire. 

Besides its melancholy association with Maximil- 
ian's last hours, Queretaro is also famous for its opal 



8o MEXICAN VISTAS 

mines, its cotton factory, and its aqueduct. I do 
not know just where the opal mines. are; indeed I 
could not hear of any one who had ever seen an opal 
mine, or who knew just how, or where, the stones 
were obtained. It is sufficient for the non-elect to 
know that there are opal mines somewhere near 
Queretaro, and that, for a consideration, more or 
less satisfactory to the purchaser, the gems can be 
bought by the traveler. Buying Mexican opals is, 
however, like adopting a baby ; it may turn out well 
and it may not. The only safeguard for an intend- 
ing purchaser of the precious stones is to engage 
as traveling companion an expert lapidary. 

The Hercules cotton factory in the suburbs of 
Queretaro is the largest in Mexico. All around the 
factory, in a climate wonderfully adapted to the rais- 
ing of cotton, lie waste lands ; yet more than half 
of the cotton used in the manufacture of the fabrics 
comes from the United States. The aqueduct, 
whose graceful outlines can be seen long after pass- 
ing the town, was presented to Queretaro by a pub- 
lic-spirited citizen. It brings water from the moun- 
tains several miles away and distributes it to all the 
public fountains and reservoirs. It is unfortunate 
that the generous gift is so little appreciated by the 
people and the city government; certainly Quere- 
taro's inhabitants are dirty and its streets are by no 
means clean. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 8l 



CHAPTER VIIL 

One of the interesting sights between Queretaro 
and the Capital is the great drainage canal of Noch- 
istongo. It is called the drainage canal that does 
not drain, but it has in its time drained the Mex- 
icans of both life and money. It was begun two 
hundred years ago. The first few years of the en- 
terprise the lives of 75,000 Indians were sacrificed; 
but in spite of this price paid in blood and brawn, 
within twenty years of the beginning of the canal, 
the City of Mexico was overflowed to the depth of 
three feet, and the streets were passable only in 
boats. This flood lasted five years, and the Spanish 
king ordered the city to be removed to the higher 
ground near Chapultepec, but the order was never 
carried out. At the present day the canal, one of 
the greatest engineering works in the world, an 
enterprise which was begun by the celebration of 
masses, and with the blessing of the Church, is one 
of the magnificent ruins of Mexico. 

It was not yet daylight when we crossed the 
double rim of the valley of Mexico, and saw before 



82 MEXICAN VISTAS 

US in the pink dawn the fairy basin with its shining 
lakes and its snow-crowned mountains. A short 
whirl through garden-like villages, and we were in 
the Capital. Our first introduction to the city of 
the old Aztecs could hardly be considered satisfac- 
tory. The town was crowded by an excursion 
party, and the few hotels were full. We drove to 
the Hotel Jardin in a cloud of dust raised by the 
brooms of the street-sweepers, and incidentally we 
were ''dampened down" by the watering pots of the 
street-sprinklers. We were not therefore in a 
humor to view with favor the impossible rooms 
ofifered for our consideration by the urbane land- 
lord of the Jardin. After applying fruitlessly at the 
Sanz, the Iturbide, and the Hotel del Opera, we 
were so fortunate at last as to find shelter at the 
Coliseo, where we had an elevator, electric lights, 
hot and cold water, and a charming balcony open- 
ing from our parlor upon the street. We have the 
pleasantest remembrances of the Coliseo, and 
always upon our return to the Capital we sought its 
friendly roof. Within two minutes' walk of the 
hotel there are three good French restaurants and 
numberless cafes. 

Public transit in the City of Mexico is cheap, and 
fairly comfortable. The intricacies of the street- 
car lines are easily mastered. They all start from 
the principal plaza, and return there. The first- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 83 

class cars are painted yellow, the second-class 
green. In both classes of cars the men and often 
the women smoke continually, so that one who is 
sickened by tobacco smoke would do well to avoid 
them. The funeral cars, which are painted black 
or white, have a sad interest for strangers. The 
Mexican public carriages carry little tin flags, blue 
for the first-class, red for the second, and yellow for 
the third. As the first-class cabs become anti- 
quated they drop in grade to second and finally to 
third class. The blue-flag cabs, which charge 75 
cents a trip, or $1.50 an hour, are as good as the 
best public carriages in New York or Chicago. 
The red-flag cabs, price 50 cents a trip, or $1 an 
hour, are fairly clean and comfortable, while the 
yellow-flag cabs, 25 cents a trip, or 75 cents an hour, 
are the cheapest and the shabbiest things in Mexico. 
We were in the Capital at the time of the destruc- 
tion of the Maine. The Mexicans, as a nation, 
sympathized with the United States, and the jubilee 
ever the afifair held by the Spanish clubs was 
sternly frowned down by the general public. 
Nevertheless a large sum of money was sent by 
Spanish sympathizers to Spain, and the largest con- 
tributor to the fund was the landlord of a hotel 
which had been best patronized by the Americans 
all winter. American money does really "talk," 
but sometimes it talks on the wrong side. 



84 



MEXICAN VISTAS 




A STREET IN THE CAPITAL. 



From politics to shopping is a sudden jump, but 
none too sudden for my agile sex. A day or two 
before our departure for Mexico Ahasuerus found 
me standing with a puzzled air before the empty 
trunks. ''What are you doing?" he inquired, mar- 
veling. "Why don't you pack up?" "I don't 
know what to pack," I answered, disconsolately. 
"That's soon settled," he responded. "Take every 
garment we own, and then we can buy what we 
need in the City of Mexico." Ahasuerus, as you 
see, is an old traveler, but for once his experience 
was at fault. As I foolishly followed his advice and 



MEXICAN VISTAS 85 

neglected to stock up with the many trifles neces- 
sary to a tourist in a warm climate, I was always 
short of supplies, for I never found those shops so 
vaunted of the guide books, that are ''equal to any- 
thing in Paris, London and New York." Doubt- 
less the resident in Mexico who speaks the lan- 
guage fluently, knows where to go and understands 
the Mexican goods, can shop successfully; but for 
everything imported he will be obliged to pay at 
least as m.uch as in the United States. Only native 
products are cheap in Mexico, and the soul of 
woman yearns for something besides drawn-work, 
feather-work, and Me:?tican pottery. 

One of the best things in the City of Mexico is 
the Mexican Herald — a practical, wide-awake, phil- 
anthropic newspaper. Last winter it was making 
a brave stand for the work of the Humane Society, 
whose half-dozen members were fighting for the 
woefully wronged dumb creatures of Mexico. The 
puny, wailing, wan-eyed babies, the bleeding- 
backed burros, and the cruelly bitted and spurred 
horses, sicken and appall the tender heart. The 
Mexicans are sinfully prolific, yet out of a family of 
a dozen or fifteen children not more than a third 
attain maturity. A large percentage of these poor 
innocents is consequently soon out of misery, but 
who can estimate the sum of suffering endured by a 
long-lived animal like the burro ? The Herald says, 



86 MEXICAN VISTAS. 

and with justice, that it is impossible to influence 
Mexicans to treat animals kindly so long as they 
see American women, who claim to be not only 
civilized but philanthropic, crowd to the bull-rings 
and applaud the performance. It is a well-known 
fact, and Mexicans are not slow to appreciate it, 
that bull-fights are often gotten up for the amuse- 
ment of the great excursion parties. The people 
of the United States should not forget that in this 
matter they are their ''brothers' keepers," and 
clearly have a responsibility toward their neighbors. 
Besides the professional bull-rings and cock-pits, 
which exist in every Mexican city, and to which 
admittance can be gained by every one who pays a 
small fee, there is a growing fashion among the 
clubs and societies of organizing amateur bull- 
fights. These are society functions and are at- 
tended by the fashionables only. Both the profes- 
sional and amateur toreadors are generally men, 
but among the excitements of last winter were the 
achievements of the ''sefiorita (young lady) bull- 
fighters." These women contrived by slow degrees 
to mangle and kill the hapless creatures pitted 
against them. The horrifying spectacle was taken 
by the audience as a good joke, and the admiring 
public flung balls of darning cotton and spools of 
thread at the fair sefioritas instead of the usual 
offering of cigarettes. 



LIBRARY. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 87 

One of the most popular places of amusement in 
the City of Mexico is Orrin's Circus, where every- 
thing in the line of theatricals, from the minstrels 
to light opera, is presented. It is perfectly respect- 
able and well-managed, and is a proper resort for 
women and children. The fashionable theater is 
the National, but the Theatro Principal is the favor- 
ite place of entertainment. As in Cuba, one buys 
tickets, not for the whole play, but for one act only. 
After the first act, the buyer is free to leave, or to 
buy again, as best pleases him. This sampling of 
theatrical presentations has much to recommend it 
to our own theater goers, who must often remain 
through wearisome acts, or lose the money they 
have invested. 

My first experience in theater going in the Cap- 
ital was an unhappy one. I went, as I should have 
gone at home, without head covering, for it never 
occurred to me, in that land of lace mantillas and 
rebosas, to do otherwise; but, t-o my confusion, I 
found myself conspicuous as the only unbonneted 
woman in the house. The Americans who com- 
plain so bitterly of the big hat nuisance in the 
theaters would be miserable in Mexico, where the 
women wear the most enormous picture hats I ever 
beheld. As usual their faces were powdered to 
ghastliness, and they had a tawdry, overdressed 
air, but at least there were no bleached blondes 



88 MEXICAN VISTAS 

among them, for the Spanish women all wear their 
own pretty black hair, which forms the proper frame 
for their dark, handsome faces ; although, for some 
reason, doubtless on account of the dry air of the 
plateau, the tresses of the Mexicans, which are. of 
the sarae beautiful blue-black color as those of the 
Cubans, are not so abundant. 

On this occasion of our first visit to the theater, 
as the performance was execrable, we were ready 
to go at the end of the first act. The orchestra, 
had it chosen to play good music, was not so bad ; 
but none of the company could sing, and our 
knowledge of Spanish was not sufficient for us to 
enjoy the repartee which seemed to delight the 
audience. In consideration of the unsatisfactory 
nature of the play, it is. perhaps, hardly patriotic 
to mention the fact that the actors, although they 
spoke Spanish fluently, had distinctly the air of 
Americans, and we were convinced that the basso 
was a Georgian negro. With the exception of this 
basso, the actors and the audience were all white. 

When I related the story of my blunder in going 
to the theater without headgear to a sympathizing 
American woman, who has lived for many years in 
Mexico, she soothed me with the assurance that if 
I had gone the next night, I should probably have 
seen many uncovered heads. "They take their cue 
from the Americans," she said. ''Doubtless the last 



MEXICAN VISTAS 89 

party of American excursionists who visited the 
theater wore bonnets, a fashion which no American 
until now has nulHfied by example." Although 
this comforting opinion healed my wounded feel- 
ings, I could not wholly accept it. The Mexican 
women have entirely too good an eye for th-e pretty 
coquetries of dress to depend for their models upon 
their neighbors. If this be a true view of the case, 
however, the stray American woman must cer-' 
tainly feel a crushing sense of responsibility in 
regard to headgear and other righteous examples. 



90 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER IX. 

If the traveler would thoroughly understand the 
City of Mexico he should have an intimate ac- 
quaintance with her history and be able to picture 
in imagination her ancient conditions. Cortes 
found the Capital floating, like Venice, upon the 
water, the houses supported by piles resting upon 
the bed of Lake Texcoco. According to Prescott, 
the city of 300,000 inhabitants was solidly and hand- 
somely built, and was traversed by three main 
causeways of cemented rock. These causeways 
were intersected by canals, crossed by bridges. 
But Mexico no longer sits, like a huge water-fowl, 
upon the bosom of the lake. Owing to the great 
drainage canal, and to natural evaporation, the 
shores of Lake Texcoco have receded, and are now 
nearly three miles from the city; so that Mexico is 
compelled to float, if she floats at all, upon her 
smells. Certainly they are strong enough to bear 
her up. These omnipresent smells do not come 
from the streets, which are really kept clean, but 



MEXICAN VISTAS 9I 

from the houses, whose sewers empty into the gut- 
ters. The city, from its situation in the very bottom 
of the basin, with the water lying always within 
three feet of the surface^ must naturally be un- 
healthy. Great things are, however, expected from 
the new drainage canal, which, it is hoped, will do 
away with the unsanitary conditions. 

As you will rerriember, Cortes was received with 
kindness by the Aztec emperor, Montezuma, who, 
in spite of the protests of his heir, Guatemotzin, and 
the murmurs of the people, loaded the Spaniard 
with gifts and marks of favor. The Spaniard, true 
to his nature, repaid the gentle monarch with in- 
solence, robbery, and imprisonment. Montezuma, 
betrayed and heartbroken, died in six months, and 
Guatemotzin drove the invaders from the city. The 
Spaniards took their flight along the main cause- 
way, but the bridges had been broken down and the 
canal was filled with the barges of the infuriated 
caciques. The cavaliers, weighed down by their 
armor and the treasure of gold and silver which 
they were endeavoring to carry out of the city with 
them, proved an easy prey to the exasperated 
Aztecs, who, in those few moments of mad slaugh- 
ter, avenged the insults and the cruelties of many 
months. 

Along this main causeway, down which the Span- 
iards fled, and which is now one of the principal 



92 MEXICAN VISTAS 

streets of the city, are many points of historic inter- 
est. At the head of the causeway is the Alameda, 
or the great city Park. The spot was, in the time 
of Montezuma, the Indian market place. Later on, 
in the time of the Viceroys, it was the place for the 
execution of criminals and the burning of heretics, 
and the Church of San Diego, at the west end of 
the park, was approved by an old writer as giving 
a "beautiful view of the burning place." The Ala- 
meda, with its flower plots and sparkling fountains, 
gives no hint of the former horrors enacted there ; 
nevertheless there is a blot even now upon its 
beauty — the fine building erected by the Mexican 
government where the government lotteries are 
drawn. It is too much, perhaps, to hope that a 
Spanish-American will ever cease to be a gambler. 
At all events the United States will find the ques- 
tion a serious one in dealing with their new pos- 
sessions — for Mexicans, Cubans, Porto Ricans, and 
doubtless Filipinos also are born gamblers. 

As we stroll down the causeway we pass "Alva- 
rado's Leap," the spot where one of the brave lieu- 
tenants of Cortes, finding the bridge down and all 
hope of escape cut off, to the awe and admiration of 
the pursuing foe, jumped the chasm. History does 
not record the exact length of this jump, but it is 
described as beyond human possibility. Neverthe- 
less Alvarado's conduct, both before and after this 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



93 



feat, is a guarantee that he was extremely human. 
Further down the causeway, where the loss of 
Spanish life was heaviest, is the pretty Church of 
the Martyrs, where masses are continually said for 
the dead. The spot is easily identified by the smells, 
for the dead and gone martyrs — or some of the 
living ones— still taint the air. Nevertheless the 
church is an interesting one, and contains some par- 
ticularly fine copies of Murillo's Holy Family of 
the National Gallery, and the Immaculate Concep- 
tion of the Louvre. Near the Church of the 
Martyrs is a monument to the patriot Morelos, the 
last victim of the Inquisition in Mexico. When we 
remember that Morelos was executed in 1814, 
almost within the memory of living men, the Inqui- 
sition seems very near to us. 

The Mexican Pantheon — the Church of San 
Fernande — is also situated upon the causeway. In 
the little Campo Santo attached to San Fernande 
lie many of Mexico's greatest men. Here sleeps 
Juarez, under a marble canopy, entirely covered 
with bead wreaths. The monument of the great 
president is a figure of the Republic, holding in her 
arms the dying hero. This beautiful work of art, 
one of the very finest in Mexico, is by the brothers 
Yslas, who have shown a true appreciation of their 
subject. Other patriots who lie in San Fernande 
are Morelos, Guerrero, and Zaragossa. Miramon 



94 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and Mejia are also buried there, but there are no 
bead wreaths on their tombs, for Mexico, although 
she may forgive her enemies, does not honor them.. 
Maximilian, who died with Miramon and Mejia, 
lies in the beautiful castle of Miramir on the Adri- 
atic. In front of San Fernande, in the pretty park, 
is a monument to Guerrero, one of Mexico's favor- 
ite heroes. 

At the end of the causeway, in the village of 
Tlacopan, now called Tacuba, is the great tree 
under which Cortes sat down and wept. All 
seemed lost; he had burned his ships, and every 
hope of escape was cut off. He was surrounded by 
an enraged foe ; of his little army only a handful 
remained, and his heart sickened as he thought of 
the horrible fate of his captive comrades, reserved 
for the sacrificial fires of the Aztecs. Well might 
it be for Cortes a "sad night." 

If the reader knows his Prescott as he should — 
for, whether authentic or not, it is a marvelous story 
— he knows that, in the end, the Spaniards were 
sufficiently strong and wily to conquer the country 
and make of it a Spanish province. Consequently 
it is the mixed blood of Spaniard and Indian which 
flows in the veins of the Mexican of to-day. This 
half-breed is not born to the inheritance of joyous- 
ness that the Cuban is, whose few drops of negro 
blood put quicksilver into his nature. The Mexi- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 95 

can has all the pomposity of the Spaniard and all 
the stolidity of the Indian. He wraps himself in 
his graceful serape and with a stately "Pardon me" 
walks the earth, believing himself its master. It is 
true that the upper classes in the Mexican cities 
have adopted the Am.erican dress — or some modifi- 
cation of it — but they keep all the old-time stately 
ceremonials of the Spaniard. 

The hospitality of these lordly persons is almost 
oppressive. When the stranger enters a house, 
he is assured by his host, 'Tt is yours, Sefior, accept 
it" — and his it remains — in the assurance of the 
free-handed Don — as long as he chooses to stay, 
albeit his soul is never gladdened by the sight of the 
title deeds properly signed and registered. The 
same apparent generosity is shown in the matter of 
furniture, horses, and jewels. If the stranger ad- 
mires a pin, a ring, a cane, "It is yours," again 
exclaims the gracious Mexican, and he urges its 
acceptance in terms so pressing that the admirer is 
at loss for words to refuse the proffered gift. But 
woe to the practical American who mistakes this 
pretense for real generosity. A certain country- 
man of ours, who had most unwillingly accepted a 
horse that was fairly forced upon him, because he 
no longer dared refuse it, was made aware of his 
mistake in the most disagreeable manner. "What 
sort of a man is that friend of yours?" inquired the 



96 MEXICAN VISTAS 

donor of an acquaintance of the recipient. ''He 
must be a thief; he has taken my horse." 

Every social relation, even the most ordinary 
forms of courtesy, is tinctured with this ceremoni- 
ous insincerity. To the traveler the Mexican bows 
and grimaces, which mean nothing at all, are, at 
tirst, amazing. I watched one day in a horse car 
an interesting play. As two young men entered 
the car, one of them hastened to pay the fare for 
both, and presented his companion with the ticket. 
The companion, with a start of horror, and any 
amount of hand-waving and protests, refused it, 
and when he was, at last, prevailed upon to accept 
the favor, he did it with a succession of salaams and 
hat-liftings that made my neck ache. The recipient 
of the ticket then produced his cigarette case and 
proffered its contents to his friend, who, after many 
stately genuflexions, consented to take one. They 
then lighted their cigarettes, and vigorously puffed 
the smoke into my face. However, a saturation of 
tobacco smoke is an advantage in a country infested 
with moths, and the Mexican cigarettes are so de- 
lightfully fragrant that I had no fault to find with 
them. On the contrary, when an American, who 
wished to be very Spanish indeed, puffed the smoke 
of a strong, fat cigar in my eyes I resented it, even 
in Mexico. The Mexican women smoke as much as 
the men, and many of the smokers seem to belong to 



MEXICAN VISTAS 97 

the better class ; certainly they are not of the same 
class as the women smokers in France, whose ex- 
ample American women and girls sometimes make 
the mistake of imitating. 

One who likes black eyes may have a surfeit of 
them in Mexico, for every one, from prince to peon, 
has beautiful dark orbs with curling, jetty lashes. 
Their languishing, sideways glances were, at first, 
very fascinating to me, but I soon tired of them, 
and in the end, even learned to distrust them. I 
had an adventure one evening that convinced me 
that the Mexican eyes are not the ones to inspire 
confidence in an emergency. I left the Hotel 
Coliseo, intending to meet Ahasuerus at the res- 
taurant two or three blocks away, and, with my 
usual fatal facility for wandering, took the wrong 
turn, and soon found that I was lost. As the streets 
change their names every block, the street signs 
gave me no hint of my whereabouts, and, for once, 
the ubiquitous policeman was nowhere in sight. I 
wandered for an hour, and as it was getting dark, 
I began to be troubled. I looked at the ragged 
peons, and the gallant, black-eyed sefiors without 
any desire to address them, but I finally accosted a 
pretty French sefiorita, who, with her Indian maid, 
was hurr3dng like a frightened pigeon through the 
lighted streets. She, however, knew nothing of 
the city, and her directions sent me far afield. 



98 MEXICAN VISTAS 

All at once I espied, in the door of a shop, a 
familiar gray figure, with a sideways tilted hat, and 
hands in trousers pockets. I walked confidently 
up to the figure and said, "Pardon me; I see that 
you are an American. Can you direct me to the 
Hotel Coliseo?" The stranger looked right at me 
with his honest eyes — I don't know what color they 
were, but they were straightforward American 
eyes — gave me the required directions plainly and 
concisely, and touched his hat respectfully as I 
walked off, blessing the honest American eyes and 
the big American heart to which neither child nor 
woman fears to appeal. 

Upon reaching the hotel I found Ahasuerus anx- 
iously pacing up and down on the lookout for me. 
When I told him the story of my adventure he 
exclaimed, "Well, of all stupids I ever did see! 
Why on earth didn't you call a cab, and ask to be 
driven to the Coliseo?" And when I turned and 
looked at him little spurts of bright flame seemed 
to burst out, like a halo, all around his head, and 
then and there I fell down and worshiped the giant 
intellectuality, the unfathomable resource, of the 
American man. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 99 



CHAPTER X. 

One of the interesting places in the City of Mex- 
ico, both on account of its beauty and for the his- 
torical associations connected with it, is the 
Cathedral. It is built upon the spot where for- 
merly stood the old Aztec teocalli, or temple, in 
which the Indians offered sacrifices to their gods. 
The present building, which is upon the site of a 
former church, was erected in 1573, and is therefore 
325 years old. It is of grand dimensions, but the 
beauty and the impressiveness of the interior are 
marred — as in most Mexican churches — by the 
choir, which is placed in the nave, and by the high 
altar, which is clumsy and inartistic. This altar is, 
at present, being redecorated with barbaric gilding 
and florid colors. Under the flashy altar of Los 
Reyes are buried the heads of Hidalgo, Allende, 
Aldama, and Jiminez, which were brought here 
from the prison hooks of Guanajuato. These men 
were excommunicated by the Catholic Church as 
heretics and traitors, and I do not know how the 
ecclesiastics explain their burial on consecrated 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



^^ . ground. The radical party in the republic wish the 



ground. 

-^ R M K •■remains of the patriots to be interred elsewhere, 
and as soon as a suitable place can be provided 
doubtless that wish will be carried out. Under a 
neighboring altar lie the remains of the first em- 
peror, Iturbide — called by his grateful countrymen 
the Liberator. These same grateful countrymen, 
by the way, did not forget to bestow upon him the 
reward of the Mexican liberator — death. Here at 
the great altar near which he lies the first emperor 
was crowned, and from the same spot, forty years 
after, Maximilian, that royal usurper, followed him 
along the road to death. From the same altar, a 
few years later, the triumphant government of 
Juarez took, for the aid of republican principles, the 
gold candlesticks and the gold and jeweled statue 
of the Assumption. 

In the chapter house is a Madonna said to be by 
Murillo. In spite of my doubts, a sight of the pic- 
ture convinced me of its authenticity. No one but 
Murillo could paint so adorable a baby. The 
peaceful mother holds the dimpled child in her 
strong, tender arms, while he, baby-fashion, springs 
toward the little St. John at the Virgin's knee. 
Over them all, with love in her old face, broods St. 
Anne. There are several other fairly good pictures 
in the Cathedral, but one — by the woman artist, 
La Somaya — which the guide-books extol, we could 



MEXICAN VISTAS lOI 

not find, and the sacristan seemed to know nothing 
of it. 

The little zocalo or plaza beside the Cathedral is 
bright with flowers and fountains, and gay with the 
passing crowds. It is a good place to sit and heat 
the band play, to study Mexican types, and to listen 
to the boom of the great Cathedral bell, Santa 
Maria Guadalupe. This bell, which is nineteen 
feet long, is, with the exception of the cracked 
Kremlin bell of Moscow, the biggest one in the 
world. Santa Maria Guadalupe, however, is not 
cracked, and it has the further advantage of being 
in a climate where one can sit outside every day in 
the year and listen to its deep tones. 

While you are in the mood for seeing pictures, 
living and on canvas, it is a good time to visit the 
old Academy of San Carlos^ which is now the 
Museum of Art, and which claims to have in its 
collection pictures by Murillo, Velasquez, Rubens 
and Van Dyke. Some of the older Mexican artists, 
particularly Ibarra, who lived early in the seven- 
teenth century, seem to have had no little feeling for 
art, but the modern delight too much in gay color- 
ing, and strong shading; nevertheless many of the 
historical paintings are very interesting. The 
sculptures in the gallery, with the exception of the 
model of Juarez' monument by the Yslas brothers, 
are casts of Greek statuary. 



102 MEXICAN VISTAS 

The first time we went to the National Museum 
we were accosted by a guide who offered to reveal 
to us the mysteries of the collection for the modest 
sum of five dollars. When we offered him one dol- 
lar he accepted it, however, and seemed perfectly 
satisfied. It was certainly a dollar well invested, 
for he proved to be an intelligent man, who, strange- 
ly enough for a guide, really knew what he w^as 
talking about. 

The most curious thing in the Museum is the Cal- 
ender stone of the Aztecs, which was found near the 
present site of the Cathedral. Archeologists now 
believe it to have been the base of the smaller sacri- 
ficial stone. Upon this sacrificial stone, which is 
curiously carved, and which is cut by a channel, 
down which flowed the blood of the victim to the 
vase beneath, perished annually from twenty to fifty 
thousand persons. The Museum contains troops of 
Aztec gods ; Chac-Mool, the very unpleasant god of 
fire; the well-known "Indio-Triste" (Sad Indian), 
who is anything but sad, some very realistic ser- 
pents, and several vases for holding the sacred fire. 
The hieroglyphics, and the picture dispatches sent 
to Montezuma announcing the coming of the Span- 
iards, are most interesting. On the second floor 
are the natural history exhibits, which are much like 
those of other Museums. The third floor is de- 
voted to portraits and mementos of Mexico's great 



MEXICAN VISTAS IO3 

men. There is a portrait of Cortes, with the narrow 
head and sly eyes of a schemer and a bigot, and one 
of the blonde Maximilian, who, judging from his 
face, was not born for stormy times. Alvarado's 
armor, Hidalgo's standard, and Maximilian's plate 
and state carriage, are also exhibited. There are 
likewise humble souvenirs of Juarez, of Hidalgo, 
and of Morelos, their candle-sticks, their shabby 
garments — pathetically homely objects of daily use 
—which should be sacredly guarded from curious 
eyes. To me it seems as indelicate to display these 
homely objects of personal belonging as to read a 
man's love letters or to spy upon his prayers. 

Near the National Museum is the National Pal- 
ace, sometimes used by the President as a dwelling. 
It is official headquarters, and in the reception hall 
those who are fortunate enough to have letters to 
the President are generally received. Although the 
palace was, at one time, the abode of the luxurious 
Carlotta, the apartments are by no means magnifi- 
cent, but the grand drawing-room and the study 
of the little Porfirio Diaz are interesting. The 
great reception hall should be called a mortuary 
chapel, for it is hung with the portraits of Mexico's 
heroes, most of whom have died violent deaths. 
On the wall hangs also an immense painting of the 
battle of Cinco de Mayo— fifth of May. This bat- 
tle, which was fought on the hills back of Puebla, 



104 MEXICAN VISTAS 

determined the fate of Maximilian. At one end of 
the reception hall, on a raised dais, is the presiden- 
tial chair, upholstered in velvet and gold and with 
the gilt eagle of Mexico above it. The whole apart- 
ment has much the air of a European throne-room, 
and the man who fills the presidential chair of Mex- 
ico is more potent than many continental sover- 
eigns. 

In the vicinity of the Cathedral is the Monte de 
Piedad, or national pawn-shop. This is a practical 
and beneficent charity, by means of which people 
in straits are enabled to obtain just rates on objects 
pledged. The owners of the property are given 
a specified time for redemption, but if unredeemed 
the articles are put on sale for the price of the loan. 
At the end of each month the price of the pledges is 
marked down, so that people who wish to purchase 
a certain article, can, by waiting a few months, buy 
at reasonable rates if the desired articles remain 
unsold. The Monte de Piedad is a sad place, filled 
with the wrecks of broken homes and shattered for- 
tunes. Common household utensils, pianos, tawdry 
garments, valuable jewels, old saddles, painted 
fans, broken furniture, and point lace jostle 
one another, and hopelessly confuse the intending 
purchaser as to values. Nevertheless tourists may 
sometimes pick up at the Monte de Piedad valuable 
articles for reasonable prices, but so-called bargains 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



105 



are not common. During the administration — or 
rather lack of administration — of Diaz' predecessor, 
President Gonzales, the Monte de Piedad suffered 
with other government institutions, and narrowly 
escaped bankruptcy. President Diaz has, however, 
put all government interests on a stable and, let us 
hope, a lasting basis. 




AZTEC WOMAN WITH DISTAFF. 



I06 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XL 

Sunday morning all the Mexican world goes to 
the Church Parade in the Alameda. This function, 
is less hilarious and, I think, in better taste than the 
London Church Parade, for the Mexicans seem very 
conscious of the absurdity of the whole affair ; in 
fact, they have an air of being ashamed of them- 
selves. Although most of the promenaders wear 
the American dress the crowd does not represent, 
as in London, the aristocracy of the city. The 
women, who are by no means as handsome as the 
pretty Cubans with their flirting fans and enticing 
mantillas, have a most execrable fashion of powder- 
ing their faces until they look like dough-balls; 
and I was not impressed with their escorts — the tiny 
warriors — who did not look as if they would be very 
terrible soldiers. It would seem that the Indian 
strain is less vigorous, as well as less joyous, than 
the negro, for I was struck with the sloping shoul- 
ders, narrow chests, and awkward carriage of both 
sexes. Indeed, I should think that a teacher of 
Delsarte would be in demand in Mexico. Still, in 



MEXICAN VISTAS IO7 

Spite of their physical defects, the Mexican soldiers 
have shown that they can fight, although Ahas- 
uerus, who is authority on military matters, declares 
that they do not know how to stand properly, or 
how to hold their guns. 

One Sunday morning, as we came from the Pa- 
rade, we were met at the park entrance by a multi- 
tude of excited people, fleeing before the horses 
of mounted policemen, and before we could realize 
the situation, we were in the midst of a howling 
mob. To escape the crowd, which was hurling 
itself from the opposite direction upon us, and to 
avoid being trampled under the feet of the police 
horses, we climbed upon the pedestal of one of the 
big tigers at the park entrance. In vain we sought 
from our neighbors an explanation of this, to us, 
utterly incomprehensible excitement. No one 
heeded our inquiries, and we ourselves could see 
no cause for the outbreak, although we noticed that 
the fury of the rabble seemed to be concentrated 
upon a band of mild-mannered and trembling man- 
dolin players, who formed the center of the mob, 
and who were evidently under the protection of the 
police. An article in one of the papers, a few days 
later, explained the mystery. It seems that Mexico, 
unlike most capital cities, strongly objects to inno- 
vations. So strong, indeed, is this sentiment that 
the first bicyclists who appeared upon the streets 



I08 MEXICAN VISTAS 

of the city narrowly escaped injury at the hands of 
the mob. The unfortunate musicians whom we 
saw were guihy, first, of introducing mandolin play- 
ing upon the streets, and, secondly, of being Span- 
iards, which was, in those days of the wrecked 
Maine, an ofifense in the eyes of the republic-loving 
Mexicans. For ourselves the result of this experi- 
ence was to give us an added respect for jthe strong 
man at the head of the Mexican government, who 
holds in check a people so excitable and so turbu- 
lent. 

Sunday afternoon, from four to seven o'clock, the 
fashionable world drives on the Paseo, and here one 
sees elegant equipages, and beautiful, high-bred 
women. Down each side of the broad roadway 
extends a line of motionless troopers, sitting on 
their horses as if carved in bronze, and under their 
outstretched swords the carriages pass in line. The 
rigid position must be torture for the soldiers, but 
the ceremony gives a military and official air to the 
promenade. Although a fashionable function, the 
Sunday drive is not confined to the fashionables, 
and the poorer Mexicans will deny themselves the 
comforts of life for the whole week that they may 
save the needful money to hire a carriage for the 
drive on the popular promenade. ip^ 

The Paseo extends from the little plaza of Charles 
IV. to the palace of Chapultepec, a distance of about 



MEXICAN VISTAS IO9 

two miles. It was laid out by Carlotta in imitation 
of the Champs-Elysees of Paris, and, like the 
Champs-Elysees, has several garden-like rond- 
points, or glorietas. The street is kept ,very clean 
by constant sprinklings with watering pots. Along 
the sides of the roadway are statues of Mexican 
patriots and rows of carved stone benches, from 
which one can watch the Sunday procession of gay 
carriages. 

In the matter of public monuments the United 
States must look to her laurels, for in this respect 
Mexico, bids fair to outstrip her. At the head of 
the Paseo stands the grand equestrian statue of 
Charles IV. of Spain, modeled after the statue of 
Marcus Aurelius at Rome. The Spanish monarch 
was no favorite in Mexico, but as a work of art the 
monument is allowed to remain. In another 
glorieta is the spirited figure of the young Colum- 
bus, and still further on that of the heroic Guate- 
motzin, the heir of Montezuma, and last of the 
Aztec emperors. A bas-relief upon the pedestal 
represents the torture by Cortes of the Indian 
prince, and other incidents in his career. The 
figure of the young monarch is strong and fearless, 
but the attentive face seems already to foresee its 
doom. The cruel conqueror of the last of the Aztec 
royal line died in Spain. His body was brought 
back to Mexico for burial, but after the independ- 



no 



MEXICAN VISTAS 




HILL AND CASTLE OF CHAPULTEPEC. 



ence of the country was proclaimed it was found 
necessary, in order to save the bones from the fury 
of the people, to return them to Spain. Montezuma 

and Guatemot- 
zin are house- 
hold words in 
their native land, 
but there is in 
all Mexico no 
monument to 
Cortes, and no 
street nor city 
bears his name. 
Once again, posterity gives a righteous verdict. 

The Paseo ends at the palace of Chapultepec, the 
beautiful home of the Mexican rulers. The present 
palace is built upon the site of Montezuma's summer 
home, and under the shade of its dark cypresses the 
melancholy prince often brooded over the encroach- 
ments of the Spaniards, and the fate that was before 
his people and himself. Chapultepec was, also, at 
a later day, the favorite residence of Cortes, and its 
woods are said to be haunted by the spirit of his 
Indian mistress, the gentle Marina. It is believed 
by the Mexicans that her shadowy form may be 
seen at twilight, flitting through the woods and 
gardens that she loved. It would seem but justice 
that this punishment should be reserved for her, 



MEXICAN VISTAS III 

that she should come back to look upon the degra- 
dation of her own race, whom, for the love of a 
stranger, she betrayed and deserted. 

The hill of Chapultepec, or Grasshopper Hill, 
upon which stands the castle, was besieged and 
taken by the American army in the Mexican war. 
The fortress was bravely defended by the boy 
cadets of Mexico, and a monument to the memory 
of the young heroes is erected at the foot of the 
hill. Since those dreadful days we have had an 
opportunity to show our friendship for Mexico, but 
at the grave of these little lads every true American 
must feel a tender contrition. Chapultepec, besides 
being the home of the president, is also the West 
Point of Mexico. The young cadets whom we saw 
strolling around, with their books under their arms, 
were pretty, bright-eyed, courteous boys, with mod- 
est and unaffected bearing — doubtless just such 
boys as those silent ones, who sleep below. 

The view from the heights of Chapultepec is one 
of the famous ones of the world. The lovely valley 
of Mexico, with its shimmering lakes, its snow- 
capped volcanoes, its white-walled towns and vil- 
lages, and its historic battlefields, lies at the feet 
of the gazer. No one, looking down on that pic- 
ture of fairy land, could possibly imagine that such 
a thing as an evil smell or a dirty street was ever 
known to the favored inhabitants. 



112 MEXICAN VISTAS 

For a palace — which in my experience is gener- 
ally shabby and uncomfortable — Chapultepec is 
quite satisfactory — in fact, really luxurious. Much 
of the beautiful furniture and drapery Carlotta 
brought with her from France. There is, however, 
one unpleasant feature about Chapultepec, and that 
is the custodian. Unlike his fellow-countrymen in 
general, he is not in the least courteous, and he 
seems to regard all Americans with suspicion. In- 
deed, although as a nation we are admired by our 
neighbors, I think that as individuals we are not in 
particularly good favor with the Mexicans ; and 
perhaps we should not marvel at their adverse judg- 
ment of us. When we seriously reflect upon the 
American occupation of foreign cities we cannot 
censure our neighbors for their criticisms. They 
judge us as we judge them, from what they see, and 
one who has traveled much must acknowledge that 
their strictures are often just. We crowd their 
revered ruins and their sacred art galleries with 
irreverent feet and chattering tongues, and treat 
their people as strange and amusing spectacles. 
We are so persuaded that our cars, our steam-heat 
and our overloaded hotel tables are the last triumph 
of civilization that we endeavor to impose our be- 
lief in their merits upon the world at large. And 
there are even worse ofifenses. The custodian at 
Chapultepec told us that a party of Americans who 



MEXICAN VISTAS II3 

had lately visited the place had cut the velvet tas- 
sels from the elegant hangings in Sehora Diaz' 
boudoir. We saw the mutilated hangings and were 
forced to blush for our countrywoman — for only a 
woman could have committed such an outrage. 

Fortunately we have the remedy for all these 
things in our own hands, and I am sure that I am 
safe in predicting that it will not be long before the 
American woman will be acknowledged abroad as 
the model of courtesy and honor. I suppose we 
must be resigned to rest, however, for all time under 
the ban of pious conservatives, like the sweet-faced 
old sehora whom I saw one day in the City of Mex- 
ico. The sefiora, who, from her lace mantilla, evi- 
dently belonged to the old regime, entered the 
street car in which I was a passenger, seated herself 
beside me, looked me straight in the face, examined 
me minutely from top to toe, then crossed herself 
several times and began to patter prayers under her 
breath. Doubtless she considered me as a danger- 
ous creature, one of the great army of American 
adventurers, mineholders, railway and telegraph 
builders who are seeking to overturn the good old 
ways of Mexico. 

Fortunately not all Mexicans are of the seiiora's 
way of thinking. President Porfirio Diaz is as 
intelligent and as progressive as the best American. 
Under his wise rule Mexico is taking great strides 



114 MEXICAN VISTAS 

forward, and it is to be hoped that his days may be 
long in the land. The most popular woman in the 
country is Senora Diaz, the sweet-faced wife of the 
president. This simply attired, gracious wife of a 
great ruler is a thorough gentlewoman. She re- 
ceived us with the most graceful courtesy, paying 
us the greatest compliment possible to pay a 
stranger by addressing us in our own tongue, and 
I blushed as I responded to her elegant English, 
knowing that I could not speak fifty words in her 
own language. Sefiora Diaz spoke in the kindliest 
manner of the United States, and I was glad to 
answer her honestly that we were proud of our 
young sister republic and anxious to be on sisterly 
terms with her. 

Although Mexico prides herself upon being a 
republic, and although loyal Mexicans almost 
always speak of the country as ''la republica," and 
seldom as "Mexico," still the government is not, 
in our sense of the word, really a republic. Happily 
for Mexico, the franchise, as we know it, does not 
exist. The power is vested in a strong government, 
with a strong man at its head. Diaz has been 
president for eighteen years. He has continued the 
wise poHcy of the great Juarez, and has given to the 
country railroads, telegraphs, free schools, and 
libraries. He is the leader of the Liberal party, the 
party which stands for freedom and enlightenment, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



115 



as opposed to the more conservative policy of the 
Church. Diaz, who is a half-breed, born in Oax- 
aca, has been from his youth in military and political 
life. He is a man of iron will and tremendous pow- 




PRESIDENT DIAZ. 

ers of resistance. As an example of his rugged 
endurance, a surgeon in the Confederate army re- 
lated to us that he found Diaz, after one of the 
battles of the French invasion, suffering from a 



Il6 MEXICAN VISTAS- 

cruel wound, which had been greatly aggravated 
by the blundering knives of the native surgeons. 
A severe operation was necessary to save his 
life, but Diaz refused to take anesthetics, and bore 
the horrible torture of the operation with hardly a 
change of countenance. The one blot upon the 
record of this great soldier is his revolt against 
Juarez ; but his patriotic zeal and his wise adminis- 
tration have blotted that error from the minds of his 
countrymen, and Diaz stands to-day for all that is 
best in Mexico. Unfortunately the Church party, 
fostered by the influence of the clergy and many of 
the good women of the land, is rapidly increasing 
in wealth and power. To this party even Sefiora 
Diaz, who is a patriotic woman and a devoted wife, 
is a most loyal adherent. 

During the administration of one of Diaz' prede- 
cessors, a friend of the General remarked to him, 
''You will be the next president." "No," replied 
Diaz, "there will be no next president. By that 
time I shall be an American citizen" — meaning a 
citizen of the United States. His prophecy is in a 
certain sense fulfilled, since he is an American citi- 
zen as well as an American ruler, although he has 
no longer any expectation or desire of becoming 
a fellow-citizen of ours. Nevertheless he is anxious 
to imitate our virtues, while eschewing our faults, 
and to live in amity with us. This was also the 



MEXICAN VISTAS II 7 

dream of the kindly Romero, whose death we are 
at this moment mourning, and that of Senora 
Romero, the American wife of one of the best- 
beloved of all the Mexicans. It is to be hoped that 
these generous sentiments will become universal 
and that the two sister republics, side by side, may 
unite in a kindly emulation for all the triumphs of 
free religion and civilization. 



Il8 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XIL 

When the Spaniards first entered the City of 
Mexico one of the wonderful sights that met their 
astonished eyes was ''those fairy islands of flowers, 
overshadowed by trees of considerable size, rising 
and falling with the gentle undulation of the bil- 
lows." The chinampas, or floating gardens, thus 
described by Prescott, were originally formed of 
frames of osiers filled with the soil from the bottom 
of the lake, upon the surface of which they floated. 
Although still beautiful with their wealth of bloom 
and verdure, the chinampas no longer float, but are 
anchored along the shores of the canal, and make 
no pretense to be anything but irrigated fruit and 
vegetable gardens. From the irrigating ditches 
barges laden with garden produce are floated into 
the Viga canal, and thence to the market places of 
the city. 

It was a hot morning when first we strolled slowly 
through the poorer districts of the Capital, toward 
the Viga canal. The filth, misery and drunken- 
ness were depressing, but not worse than in many 



MEXICAN VISTAS I IQ 

cities of the old world. "This," said a man in clerical 
garb, addressing us in a ministerial tone, "is the 
fruit of Romanism." I did not care to remind him 
that in the Protestant city of Glasgow the scene 
might be duplicated, and that the Cowgate of that 
great Presbyterian stronghold, Edinburgh, is infi- 
nitely worse. Although I dread, as every friend of 
the country must, the influence of the Church upon 
her political conditions, still I have little sympathy 
for the contempt so freely manifested by some 
Protestants for the Catholic Church in Mexico. I 
never see a peasant or a peon kneeling before an 
altar without feeling glad that he has this staff of 
comfort to help him on his weary way. Better, a 
thousand times, is even the grossest superstition, 
than no belief at all. 

The Viga canal, which drains the waters of Lake 
Xochimilco into the lower level of Lake Texcoco, 
is no longer the limpid stream that Cortes' army 
saw. It is now the sewage conduit for the city, and 
the whole stagnant mass suggests cholera, typhus, 
and other diseases incident to filth. In these vile 
waters women were washing their hair and bath- 
ing their babies, men were wading, children were 
paddling, and the whole community seemed to 
regard the yellow flood as a great advantage. 
Barges laden with fruits and vegetables were poling 
down the canal, and great loads of dead pigs — 



120 MEXICAN VISTAS 

which, upon investigation, proved to be only pig- 
skins filled with pulque — passed by us on their 
fragrant way. We knew it was our duty as con- 
scientious tourists also to launch our bark upon 
the stream, but as we did not care to stir up the 
sleeping nastiness with a boat we took the horse 
cars instead. The line passes along one of the 
three ancient causeways, the one by which the army 
of Cortes first entered the city. As we go south 
the track bends beside the stream, the tall trees 
meet overhead, the crowd lessens, the water clears, 
and the Viga canal really becomes a thing of beauty. 
The first town south of Mexico is Santa Anita, the 
Mexican Coney Island. It is a popular resort on 
holidays and offers unlimited advantages to 
gamblers. 

There are several ancient and shabby towns with 
dilapidated churches along the route. The mar- 
ket women, with their scant stores spread around 
them, sit listlessly under the shade of the trees, and 
comfortless barges loaded with passengers pass by 
on their way to Lake Xochimilco and the towns 
along its shores. At Mexicalcingo the car-line 
branches, one line continuing south to Xochim- 
ilco, the other going east to Ixtapalapan. At Mex- 
icalcingo there is a picturesque old church, smell- 
ing of dead and gone saints, and a quaint wayside 
shrine over which the wild vines climb. We walked 



MEXICAN VISTx\S 



121 




CORTES BRIDGE. 



over to a romantic stone bridge — the same, tra- 
dition has it, to which Montezuma came with his 
escort to meet the treacherous Cortes and to bid 
him welcome to the city. It was doubtless on just 
such a sunny morning as this that the feather- 
crowned Aztecs welcomed their stern and visored 
guests, and thus set the seal to their own destruc- 
tion. 

Across this old bridge must have come, too. Gen- 
eral Scott with his arm}^ He crossed the moun- 
tains where Cortes crossed before him, through the 
pass between the white volcanoes, marched down 



122 MEXICAN VISTAS 

the road to the battlefields of Cherubusco and Mo- 
iino del Rey, which we see yonder, and thence swept 
on to Chapultepec and the City of Mexico. Inde- 
pendent of its historical associations the old bridge 
is a pleasant resting place, and we loitered in the 
sunshine, watching a graceful woman washing 
clothes in the stream. Fortunately for the welfare 
of the household linen the water was clearer than 
nearer the city. Troops of velvet-coated donkeys, 
almost hidden under their loads of verdant forage, 
ambled by, and a woman and three children, bear- 
ing upon their backs great bundles of cane, passed 
us with a courteous "Buenos dias, sefior; Buenos 
dias, senora." It seems impossible that a human 
back — much less the back of a woman or a child — 
can support such a weight as these people habitu- 
ally carry. Two hundred and fifty pounds is the 
average load for the Mexican porter. 

If we cross the bridge and continue east along 
the ancient causeway, we shall come to the old 
City of Ixtapalapan, the former residence of the 
brother of Montezuma. In this town Cortes was 
hospitably received by the prince, Cuitlahua, who 
accompanied the Spaniards on their way to the 
Capital. Like Mexico, Ixtapalapan was built upon 
piles above the water, and was a city of fine archi- 
tecture and magnificent gardens, all of which ex- 
cited the too ready cupidity of the Spaniards. The 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 23 

hospitality of Cuitlahua Cortes afterward requited 
with the blackest ingratitude. When the Span- 
iards, some months after their expulsion from the 
City of Mexico, returned again to besiege the Cap- 
ital, remembering the ''noche triste," and burning 
with a desire to avenge their comrades, they at- 
tacked Ixtapalapan. As the battle went against 
them, the brave inhabitants of the doomed city, 
seeing that all was lost, cut down the dykes and 
allowed the waters of the lake to overflow the town. 
A horrible conflict ensued in which the warriors 
fought waist-deep in the flood, but the usual good 
fortune attended the Spaniards, and the m^assacre 
that followed the victory is a foul blot on the record 
of Cortes. 

Nothing is left of the stately Aztec city except a 
little hamlet with a decaying church, and some 
miraculous volcanic springs. Above the town rises 
the Mexican Mount of the Holy Cross — the Hill 
of the Star — whose sum.mit bears an immense cross. 
This Hill of the Star was formerly a holy hill to 
the Aztecs. The nation counted time by cycles of 
fifty-two years. Every time the cycle came to a 
close the people confidently expected the end of all 
things, and the last five days of each cycle were 
spent in wailing and gloom ; the sacred fires went 
out on all the altars, and everything was ready for 
the coming of the final hour. On the last night of 



124 MEXICAN VISTAS 

the fifty-second year the priests accompanied by 
the people repaired to the Hill of the Star, bearing 
with them the flower of all their captives. At mid- 
night, when the Pleiades reached the zenith, the 
hapless victim was sacrificed, and upon his body 
the new fire was kindled. As the flames streamed 
up into the heavens they were seen by all the 
watching towns and villages, who immediately 
broke out into songs of thanksgiving. The re- 
kindling of the sacred fire was regarded by the 
Aztecs as a prophecy and a pledge that the nation 
would live and prosper for another cycle. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 125 



CHAPTER XIII. 

The patron saint of the City of Mexico is Nuestra 
Sefiora de los Remedios — Our Lady of Succor. 
Our Lady of Los Remedios is made of wood, and 
is only about ten inches long. She has lost one 
eye and the larger part of her nose, and, as one who 
is aware of the vicissitudes through which she has 
passed would expect, is a very shabby and pitiful 
little saint. She was brought to America by one 
of Cortes' soldiers, and during the time the Span- 
iards were entertained by the kindly Montezuma 
in the Capital, the wooden saint was placed upon 
a tiny shrine erected upon one of the teocallis. The 
''noche triste" so fatal to the Spaniards was also an 
unfortunate night for Our Lady of Los Remedios, 
for although she was carried by her friends out of 
the city, she was mislaid in the confusion, and 
nothing was heard of her for twenty years. At the 
end of that time Our Lady appeared to a Christian 
Aztec, who was sleeping on the spot where the 
Spaniards had camped the night after their expul- 



126 MEXICAN VISTAS 

sion from the Capital, and bade him look under a 
maguey bush near by, for her lost image. The 
Indian searched, found the lost saint, and taking it 
to his home tried to feed it, but it refused to eat, 
and during the night it fled once more to the shelter 
of the maguey bush. The Indian brought it back, 
locked it up in a strong box, and sat on the lid, but 
the saint returned to her old place, and the Church, 
seeing that she wished to remain there, built a 
temple and a shrine on the spot for her ; and there 
she is to-day, a poor, blackened, mutilated little 
image, holding in her arms a tiny figure of the 
Christ. Once her altars were decked with silver, 
gold, and jewels ; but all that is gone now, and even 
the lamps upon the shrine of this impecunious, 
one-eyed, little saint are of tin. The gourd from 
which the Indian who found her endeavored to 
induce her to eat is religiously preserved as a 
voucher for the authenticity of the story. 

It is to Our Lady of Los Remedios that the peo- 
ple appeal in times of drought — albeit the most 
earnest efforts to provide her own shrine with water 
have failed. She is also called upon in times of 
special need, and at the festival of September first 
she is carried in procession through the city. At 
the time of the last severe visitation of cholera 
Our Lady was brought in solemn state to the 
Cathedral, followed by the Archbishop and all the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 27 

church dignitaries, and deposited upon the grand 
altar. But she refused to remain and was found 
the next day on her own shrine near the maguey 
bush, her soiled and mud-stained garments show- 
ing that she had made the r-eturn trip on foot. 

Like some others of her sex, the Lady of Los 
Remedios has greatly impaired her usefulness by 
entering into politics. During the fight for Mex- 
ico's independence, she unfortunately chose the 
wrong side, and gained the contumely and con- 
tempt of the patriots. She held a General's com- 
mission in the Spanish army, and with others of her 
political faith was exiled from the city, but the 
sentence was never carried out. On account of her 
political record, however, the Lady of Los 
Remedios is not a popular saint to-day in Mexico. 
In order to see her chapel and shrine one must go 
by the N. R. R. to Naucalpan and climb the hill 
of Totoltepec on burros. 

Fortunately the Mexicans have another saint; 
one that has no admixture of Spanish blood, no 
affiliation with the Conquerors — a saint that is all 
their own. It is not strange that, after the Con- 
quest, ^ven those Aztecs who accepted the faith of 
the invaders should feel a sullen resentment against 
the Spanish saints, who from the first had so suc- 
cessfully outgeneraled their gods. The powers 
which had so loyally aided the Conquerors, could. 



128 MEXICAN VISTAS 

they thought, be no friends of theirs. It was there- 
fore pecuHarly fortunate that the Virgin of Guada- 
lupe appeared at the moment she did. 

Upon the hill of Guadalupe was an ancient Aztec 
temple for the worship of Tonantzin, the mother 
of all the gods. The Spaniards, according to their 
wont, destroyed the temple and established near 
by a mission for the conversion of the Indians. 
One morning, as a pious Indian convert, Juan- 
Diego by name — or, in our vernacular, John-James 
— was returning from mass, he was accosted by a 
veiled figure which instructed him to go to the 
Bishop and command him to build a church on the 
spot where the figure was standing. But the un- 
believing Bishop refused to listen to the mandate, 
and although the veiled figure appeared to the In- 
dian again, and once again, the Bishop still refused 
to believe the story unless the poor fellow brought 
some undeniable token that the tale was true. The 
persevering vision came to Juan-Diego for the fifth 
time, and when he begged for a sign, it directed him 
to pick the flowers at his feet. To his surprise he 
saw the ground beneath him suddenly covered with 
beautiful blossoms which he proceeded to pluck, 
and with which he filled his tilma or mantle. The 
Indian carried the blossoms joyfully to the good 
Bishop, and when he opened his tilma ta show the t 
token, behold on the tilma was imprinted the figure 



MEXICAN VISTAS I29 

of the Virgin. On the spot where the vision had 
stood when it first accosted Juan-Diego, a spring 
of water gushed forth. Over this spring, as well 
as over the other places where the Virgin had ap- 
peared, chapels were built, the shrine of Guadalupe 
became the haunt of pilgrims and penitents, and in 
every Mexican church was erected an altar to the 
new saint. 

In spite of the obvious authenticity of the story 
the Spanish church dignitaries were at first disposed 
to look rather coldly on this Indian virgin, whom 
they evidently considered as a "second-rate" saint. 
Canonization was miost grudgingly bestowed upon 
her, and it was understood among the elect that 
she was to be considered as a strictly Mexican saint. 
The great festivals in honor of her first appearance 
were counted as especially Indian festivals, and the 
Indians came long distances to lay their gifts on 
the altar of their own particular Virgin. Some of 
the scoffing ecclesiastics even went so far as to 
accuse the poor Mexicans of worshiping, not at 
the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, but at the 
altar of their old deity, Tonantzin, the mother of 
the gods. However, the protection which the 
Virgin of Guadalupe extended over the Capital 
during the plague of 1736 disposed the Church to 
look less coldly upon this unorthodox saint; and 
the ecclesiastics even began to hold some perfunc- 



130 MEXICAN VISTAS 

tory ceremonies in her honor. Indeed, Max- 
imihan, in his desire to conciHate the Mexicans, 
walked barefooted along the dusty road from the 
Capital to the shrine of Guadalupe, a distance of 
two miles and a half. In the imperial hands were 
lighted candles, and the imperial knees touched the 
ground before every wayside shrine along the route. 

The Virgin of Guadalupe, like the Virgin of Los 
Remedios, is in politics. When the soldier-priest, 
Hidalgo, struck the first blow for Mexican inde- 
pendence he snatched from the altar of a neighbor- 
ing church the banner of Guadalupe and unfurled 
it as the standard of Mexico. "Guadalupe, Guada- 
lupe," was the war-cry of the Indians as they hurled 
themselves against the power of Spain, and it is 
small wonder that the name Guadalupe has hardly 
a saintly sound to churchly ears ; nor need we 
marvel that the answering cry, "Remedios, Reme- 
dios," did not commend the Spanish saint to the 
Mexican patriot. 

The standard of Mexico bears upon one side 
the figure of the Virgin of Guadalupe clothed in a 
long blue mantle. The halo encircles not merely 
the head, but the whole figure, giving it a re- 
semblance to the Virgin of the Shell. On the 
reverse side of the standard is the eagle with the 
serpent in its claws. It is a curious fact that the 
three great republics of the world — France, Mexico 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



131 



and the United States — have, or at some time have 
had, the eagle for a national emblem. The re- 
membrance of this fact may well warm the heart of 
that proud bird. 

The road to Guadalupe lies along the great 
northern causeway from the Capital. The route is 




HOLY STAIRWAY, GUADALUPE. 



bordered with shrines which have been erected by 
the pilgrims, and has quite the air of a Mexican 
Appian Way. We descended from the street car 
in the market place of the village, and were imme- 
diately captured by beggars. Mexican beggars, as 



132 MEXICAN VISTAS 

a rule, are not persistent, but these boys yelled and 
hooted, and stood in our way, insisting upon lead- 
ing us in every direction we did not wish to go and 
showing us all the sights we did not care to see, all 
the time demanding in terrific voices, "Centavos, 
centavos !" Finding we could not shake them off, 
we went our leisurely way pretending to be un- 
conscious of their presence. 

There is a little chapel built over a spring which 
gushed from the print of the Virgin's foot, where 
it is proper to drink from the mug which is offered 
irrespectively to all comers. It is a chalybeate 
spring, which may account for the doubtful odor of 
the water, which is hardly the odor of sanctity. 
Nevertheless, I believe some remarkable cures have 
been wrought by it. 

We climbed the long flight of stairs to the chapel 
on the hill, the scene, according to tradition, of the 
Virgin's first appearance, passing on the way the 
curious Stone Sails of Guadalupe. No one knows 
the true story of these, but they are doubtless the 
thank-offering of some pious sailor. The chapel 
on the hill is the entrance to a pretty, carefully 
tended cemetery. Half way down the hill is the 
pathetic little grotto of the Virgin, which has been 
decorated by the Indian women of the village with 
bits of colored glass, silvered paper and pebbles. 
The fourth and largest church, at the foot of the 



MEXICAN VISTAS I33 

hill, formerly contained the sacred tilma of Juan- 
Diego, but we learned on inquiry that the relic 
had been removed to the grand new Cathedral 
near by, where we found it serving as an altar- 
piece. The tilma, which still retains the image of 
Our Lady of Guadalupe, is of coarse fabric, but the 
color is bright and fresh and the figure of the 
Virgin as distinct as when new. It is said that 
many "distinguished scientists" have examined the 
tilma and are unable to explain the phenomenon. 
At all events Mexican theologians are doubly 
blessed, for they have the liberty of choosing 
between the wooden Virgin of Los Remedios and 
the cloth Virgin of Guadalupe. 

The new Cathedral of Guadalupe, built specially 
for the preservation of the tilma, has already cost 
more than $2,000,000. It is decorated with huge 
paintings, the offerings of the different cities of 
Mexico. The interior of the church, which is not 
so overloaded with gilding as most of the other 
Mexican churches, is really beautiful ; some of the 
stained glass is fine, and there is in front of the 
altar a good statue in marble of one of the former 
bishops. In the market place outside the church 
there are numberless booths for the sale of im- 
mensely long candles, and although the people look 
too poor to buy bread there are always plenty of 
purchasers. As we sat in the church a number of 



134 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



penitents, carrying lighted candles several feet long 
in each hand, crawled from the entrance door to 
the high altar, upon their knees. There was about 
these poor souls an air of proud proprietorship in 
their favorite saint, and I could not find it in my 
heart to criticise their mental or spiritual attitude, 
Doubtless superstition is as great an inspiration 
to them as enlightened religion is to us, and no one 
who knows how utterly empty these patient lives 
are would wish to deprive them of any hope for the 
present or the future. 




STONE SAILS. 



MEXICAN VISTAS I35 



CHAPTER XIV. 

If we take at the Plaza the mule-car marked 
Atzcapotzalco — please pronounce slowly and dis- 
tinctly — and follow the route along the main cause- 
way, past Alvarado's Leap, the Church of the 
Martyrs, the Pantheon,, and the little Church of 
San Cosme (upon the steeple of which the young 
Lieutenant, U. S. Grant, during the siege of Mex- 
ico planted a cannon), we will come to the Garita 
Gate. Just beyond this gate is Popotla, formerly 
a great broom market, now famed for the "tree of 
noche triste," under whose spreading branches 
Cortes sat down that fateful night and wept. The 
tree is in its decadence. Tradition has it that an 
infuriated Spaniard-hater once upon a time at- 
tempted to burn it, but the "higher criticism" of 
modern history insists that the tree was burned by 
a party of tourists who had the irreverence to boil 
their tea kettle in the sacred trunk. At all events 
the tree is badly scorched, and so mutilated by 
relic-hunters that the government has found it 



136 MEXICAN VISTAS 

necessary to protect it by a high iron raihng. Just 
beyond Popotla is the old town of Tlacopan, now 
called Tacuba, the residence of the Archbishop of 
Mexico. 

A short ride brings us to Atzcapotzalco, which 
was, in the days of Montezuma, the quarters of the 
famous goldsmiths, whose cunning work so en- 
chanted the Spaniards. It was also the Aztec slave 
market, where the captives taken in war who were 
not reserved for sacrifice were made profitable 
merchandise. The present inhabitants of Atzca- 
potzalco have still the air of being slaves — only 
they buy and sell their master, the tyrant pulque. 
It is amusing to sit in the plaza and watch the 
people in the market place selling fruit, vegetables, 
cotton cloth, flowers, and pottery. The word Atz- 
capotzalco signifies ''ant hill," and one is struck 
by the ant-like efforts, in the wrong direction, of 
many of these poor people. Sometimes the little 
zocalo is a veritable battle-ground. We saw one 
day a tall, fine-looking policeman dragging a 
drunken man to jail. The officer was followed by 
a horde of howling women who trod on his heels, 
stood in his path, and ever and anon snatched his 
prisoner from him. But not the slightest change 
passed over the policeman's face. He only seized 
the prisoner more firmly in his grasp, and with the 
air of brushing away annoying insects, held on his 



MEXICAN VISTAS 137 

course, and the whole struggling, vituperating, 
rabble at last disappeared under the arch of the 
prison door. Near Atzcapbtzalco is the spring in 
which Guatemotzin is supposed to have hidden his 
treasure from the rapacity of the Spaniards. Over 
the buried treasure the spirit of the Indian maiden 
Marina is said still to stand guard. This patient 
spirit divides her time, spending part of the day at 
Chapultepec and part at Atzcapotzalco. Poor 
Marina is decidedly an overworked ghost. 

Atzcapotzalco is the terminus of the street-car 
line from the City of Mexico. Another line to 
Tlanepantla starts from the plaza and if the traveler 
does not object to dust — which, however, is not 
excessive for Mexico — he will find the ride to that 
quaint little city an enchanting one. Along the 
road there are curious moldy churches, crumbling 
walls, old monasteries and convents, orchards of 
strange fruits, and, stretching far and wide, great 
fields of m.aguey. If pulque is good anywhere it 
is good at Tlanepantla ; in fact, we liked the Tlane- 
pantla brand better even than the far-famed brand 
of Apam. Tlanepantla is noted for its bull-fights, 
which are said to be festivals of merriment, rather 
than festivals of murder, and for the sake of the 
tortured animals of the country I hope the report 
is true. The oldest church in the town was built 
in 1583. The view of the volcanoes from the 



138 MEXICAN VISTAS 

ancient city — especially in the afternoon — is one of 
the finest effects in the valley of Mexico. 

As we entered the house of a friend in Tlane- 
pantla one day, we found the sunny court filled with 
fettered men and armed soldiers. Our consterna- 
tion was great, and we expected to see our friends 
brought out immediately for execution on the 
charge of high treason. Our hostess explained, 
however, that it was merely the chain-gang deliv- 
ering wood bought that day at the market. What 
a field of speculation such a system of marketing 
opens up, to be sure. The delivery of butter by 
brigands, of poultry by parricides, and of furniture 
by felons must be a thrilling experience. 

Another interesting trip is by horse-car from the 
City of Mexico to Tacubaya. Tacubaya lies on 
high ground, and during the great flood — which 
lasted from 1629 to 1634 — it was decided to move 
the Capital thither, but when the flood subsided the 
plan was unfortunately abandoned. Tacubaya is 
more like one of our suburban towns than most 
suburban towns in Mexico, and there are in the 
quiet city really handsome houses, and gardens that 
answer to the exalted American idea of them. The 
city is called the Monte Carlo of Mexico, but we 
saw no gambling — perhaps because we did not 
know where to look for it. At all events the play 
is not so public as in other Mexican towns, where 



MEXICAN VISTAS I39 

it is constantly before the eyes of the blindest inno- 
cence. 

At Tacubaya we were astonished to see the ener- 
getic car-mules whisked off, and their place filled 
by a dummy engine which carried us over to Mix- 
coac, and thence to San Angel. We had on the 
road another beautiful picture of the valley of Mex- 
ico, which is certainly a basinful of fairy land. 
Mixcoac is a market-garden town and fruit 
and flowers are plenty and cheap. We strolled 
around San Angel and sat for awhile in the 
little plaza. A school for ninas (young girls) 
was in an old convent building near us, and we 
talked some time with the pupils, v/ho were having 
recess in the wide corridors. These Mexican girls 
were very modest and pretty, and needed only a 
few exercises in physical culture to be charming. 
San Angel is another residence town for rich peo- 
ple doing business in the city. It has an old 
church, the interior of which was scaffolded to the 
dome for regilding, repairs, and frescoing. The 
barber-shop style of decoration will soon ruin all 
these fine old Mexican churches. 

The San Mateo horse-car line takes us to the 
town of Coyacan, whither, after the capture of the 
Capital, Cortes and his captains retired to celebrate 
their victory. These martial missionaries and 
original expansionists were not too godly to turn 



140 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



their banquet into a drinking bout so scandalous 
that the good priest and confessor of the army not 
only put them under rigid penance, but afterward 
preached a sermon denouncing their misdeeds. In 
Coyacan Cortes lived with Marina while rebuilding 

the City of Mex- 
ico, and here, in 
a little garden 
attached to his 
house, he is said 
to have drowned 
his wife, who to 
h i s displeasure 
had followed his 




CORTES PALACE, COYACAN. 



rismg sun to 
Mexico from her humble home m Cuba. Tradi- 
tion has it that her bod}^ lies over yonder in the 
little graveyard. Prescott, however, defends Cortes 
from this accusation of murder, explaining that 
"the high altitude made the climate very unhealthy 
for Donna Catalina, so that she died in three 
months after her arrival in the country, an 
event very much to the advantage of Cortes." 
Doubtless "high altitude" had a hand in the poor 
Donna's taking off, for she was of humble birth 
and tastes, and the Conqueror desired a noble wife. 
Still, I am inclined to believe that a busy man like 



MEXICAN VISTAS I4I 

Cortes did not spend his life in wife-murder, as the 
ofuide-books would have us believe. 

A short distance from San Angel, near San 
Mateo, is the battlefield of Cherubusco, where there 
is an old church and monastery. In the church are 
some very curious wooden figures of the patron 
and patroness, Don Diego del Castillo, and Donna 
Helena de la Cruz. In front of the monastery is 
a monument to the Mexicans who fell in the battle. 
Three wrecks after the battle of Cherubusco the 
Americans, marching on to Chapultepec, gained 
the victories of Casa Mata, and Molino del Rey. 
Upon the capture of the powder magazine, from 
which the latter place takes it name, the young 
Lieutenant, U. S. Grant, was the first to enter the 
fort. Five da3^s later the army scaled the heights 
of Chapultepec, which seemingly a dozen men 
might have held in the face of a much more numer- 
ous foe, and the- City of Mexico lay in the hollow of 
their hand. 

There are so many interesting pilgrimages in 
Mexico that a tourist should really take his house- 
hold belongings — above all, his cook — camp in a 
town until the neighboring country has been ex- 
plored, and then move on. As most of us, how- 
ever, have limitations, both of time and money, 
it is well to choose the places to visit. An interest^ 
ing town is Tlalpam, the former capital of the State 



142 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



of Mexico. It is a flower town, but it has also cot- 
ton, woolen, and paper mills. Long ago Whit- 
suntide gambling fete was yearly held here, which 
became so outrageous that the government sup- 
pressed it. 

Texcoco is another ancient Aztec city whose in- 
habitants, together with the Tlascalans, became 
allies of the Spaniards and thus made the Mexicans 
slaves of the Castilians. This town, from which 
Cortes launched the brigantines with which he 
captured the City of Mexico, was the royal residence 
of that poet, warrior, and prince, the great Nezahu- 
alcoytl, who built a temple to the "Unknown God, 
the Cause of Causes." No image was allowed in 
this temple, and its altars were never stained with 
human sacrifice ; the only offerings were of flowers, 
gums, and sweet spices. The son and successor 
of Nezahualcoytl was Nezahualpilli, a man of 
Roman virtues and austerities. Nezhaulpilli's son 
fell in love with a lady of the court, the Lady of 
Tula, with whom he carried on a poetical corre- 
spondence, which the historian says was a capital 
offense. We are left in the dark as to whether 
the crime lay in the existence of the correspond- 
ence, or whether the offense was in the fact that the 
correspondence was in verse. At all events the 
unfortunate prince paid for the indiscretion with 
his life. Although the king steeled his heart 



MEXICAN VISTAS I43 

against the voice of nature, and allowed the cruel 
sentence to be carried out, he shut himself up in 
his own palace for months, and commanded the 
windows of his son's rooms to be walled up so that 
no one might ever again look from them. This 
stern monarch, severe in all things, once put to death 
a judge for taking a bribe, and a magistrate for de- 
ciding a suit in his own house. 

In the days of the great Nezahualcoytl a league 
was formed between the three powers — Texcoco, 
Mexico, and the little kingdom of Tlacopan. In 
this coalition Texcoco may be said to have played 
the part of Athens, Mexico of Rome, while Tlaco- 
pan was the silent and humble member. The Tex- 
cocan prince was naturally, by the dignity of his 
character as well as by the superiority of his code 
of laws and general government, the head of the 
league. But at the time of the coming of Cortes 
the Aztec prince, Montezuma, had extended his 
power and possessions to the decided disadvantage 
of his neighbor, whose territory he had seized, and 
whose supremacy he had arrogated to himself. 
Nezahualpilli, depressed and humbled by the 
aggressions of his faithless colleague, soon died, 
and a contest between his two sons for the throne 
ensued. The claims of the elder were supported 
by Montezuma, who by this decision incurred the 



144 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



hatred of the younger son IxtHlxochitl, a hatred 
which caused the young prince to declare himself 
an ally of the Spaniard. 

As before stated, it was from Texcoco that Cortes 




GARDENS OF LA BORDA, CUERNAVACA. 



Started on his second and successful expedition 
against the City of Mexico. Here too he dwelt 
for a season, when in disgrace with his Spanish 
sovereign, and here, for a time, his bones lay buried. 



MEXICAN VISTAS I45 

The Texcoco of the present day is a pretty little 
town with a plaza containing some statuary, the 
"laughing hill"— a favorite resort of Nezahualcoytl, 
and a stone basin called "Montezuma's Bath." 



146 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XV. 

The hot morning we left Mexico for Cuernavaca 
we were delighted to find ourselves in a clean, 
bright, American car, which from comparison with 
the Mexican cars seemed a veritable palace. Of 
course in this criticism of the Mexican coaches I 
do not include those of the through trains north 
of the City of Mexico, which all carry Pullman 
cars. 

The line to Cuernavaca — ''the battle route" — 
passes the fields of Casa Mata, Molino del Rey, 
Padierna — where there is a monument to the 
United States' soldiers — and Contreras, while with- 
in a short distance can be seen the field of Cheru- 
busco. After leaving Contreras the road con- 
stantly climbs, giving at every turn magnificent 
views of the valley of Mexico, with its seven shining 
lakes, its white volcanoes, its castle-crowned hill 
of Chapultepec, and the green villages dotting the 
plain. The route passes for a long distance 
through the desolate lava waste of the extinct vol- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 147 

cano Ajusco — thrown up in an eruption sometime 
during the last century — and at El Guarda, an old 
outpost, the elevation is 10,000 feet above the sea. 
Just beyond La Cima — the highest point on the 
route — the road begins to descend, and soon after 
we pass the Cross of the Marquis, the ancient 
boundary of Cortes' grant in this valley. The 
forest of Huitzilac was, a generation ago, the favor- 
ite haunt of brigands. 

For nearly two hours before reaching Cuerna- 
vaca the city lies at the traveler's feet, every turn 
upon the mountain side bringing him a little nearer 
to the enchanted land. From the vegetation of the 
temperate zone we look down on a little bit of trop- 
ical still life, and we realize the marvels of the Mex- 
ican climate which piles the temperature and the 
products of one zone upon those of another. It is 
well to remember that it is better to visit Cuerna- 
vaca early in the season, for we found the March 
weather in that delightful city a little oppressive. 
It is only fair to add, however, that we met there 
invalids who did not agree with us, but who found 
in the altitude of 5,000 feet and the dry warm air 
a cure for their ills. The town is picturesquely 
situated on a tongue of high land, cut on each side 
by deep barrancas or cations. From these bar- 
rancas the country slopes gently down to the hot 
coast lands. 



148 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



The people who live in Cuernavaca are never 
weary of sounding its praises. Said an American 
resident to me: "I lived in California; I froze in 
winter and roasted in summer. I tried Florida, 
and the fleas devoured me alive; here in Cuerna- 




LAKE IN GARDENS OF LA BORDA, 



vaca a flea is unknown." As about a dozen fleas 
were at that very moment lunching upon my per- 
son I did not accept her statement with the enthu- 
siasm she expected. Nevertheless I am too old a 
traveler to be prejudiced by such little discrepancies, 
and am willing to admit that Cuernavaca is in most 
respects ideal, and that the water is beyond 
criticism. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 149 

The gardens of La Borda are a delightful retreat 
from the heat of the morning hours. These gar- 
dens, which were laid out in the last century by 
Joseph La Borda, a Frenchman who made a for- 
tune in the silver mines, cost a million dollars. 
They are an imitation of the stiff architectural style 
of the gardens of Versailles, but the lavish tropical 
vegetation does its best to drape and soften, the 
harsher features. There are stretches of cement 
walks bordered with vases of blooming plants, stone 
balustrades overhung with tropical fruits and flow- 
ers, and artificial lakes with wide sweeping steps 
leading down to the brink. Here in these fragrant 
aisles the proud and passionate Carlotta ate out her 
heart in solitude, while Maximilian dallied with a 
Mexican mistress in his pretty summer house three 
miles away. To the average woman, and, I sin- 
cerely hope, to the average man, what a conundrum 
is Maximilian. He could die like a hero, but he 
could not live a pure and loyal life; he could give 
up existence for what he called his "faith," but he 
could not give up one ignoble desire for the fond 
heart which his misfortunes drove to madness. 

In Cuernavaca is the old palace of Cortes, still 
the handsomest building in town. Here, under the 
title of Marquis of the Valley, the Conqueror, when 
disgusted with his treatment by the Audience, re- 
tired, and spent a few quiet years in the cultivation 



150 MEXICAN VISTAS 

of his vast estates. He introduced from Cuba the 
sugar-cane, and gave his attention to sheep-raising 
and the cuhivation of the silk-worm. In one of the 
rooms of the palace Cortes is said to have mur- 
dered a wife; although he had several Indian mis- 
tresses he had only two wives, and the second one 
outlived him. In regard to this accusation, there- 
fore, I think we must bring in the verdict not guilty. 
In this palace lived the beloved second wife of 
Cortes, the beautiful Donna Juana, to whom he 
gave as a marriage gift the five finest emeralds in 
the world. It was an unfortunate gift for the 
ardent lover, for the queen of Charles V. coveted 
the jewels, and the imprudent marriage-ofifering 
doubtless affected the later fortunes of the Great 
Captain. Poor Donna Juana had an anxious and 
lonely time of it during the long absences of her 
restless mate, and it was with a sad heart that she 
saw him embark with her little son for his last 
disastrous voyage to Spain. Cortes, like Colum- 
bus, was fated to know the bitterness of unappre- 
ciated services. Charles V. refused to give audi- 
ence to his complaint, and the proud old man was 
driven to supplications most touching from one of 
Cortes' character. ''Who is that?" queried the Em- 
peror on one occasion when Cortes endeavored to 
press into his presence. "One who has given you 
more kingdoms than you had towns before," was 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



151 



the stern reply. After seven years of waiting upon 
the favor of a faithless monarch the broken-hearted 
old man died at Seville, and the Mexicans were 
avenged. 

In front of the palace of Cortes is one of the most 
picturesque market places in Mexico. The little 




MARKET PLACE, CUERNAVACA. 



zocalo at the sides of the palace entrance has a vel- 
vety sward, and realizes the American idea of a 
park. The pansies grown there are the largest I 
have ever seen. Immediately in front of the palace 
is the statue of one of the former governors of the 



152 MEXICAN VISTAS 

State — a keen-eyed, war-visaged, one-armed soldier. 
Water is abundant in Cuernavaca, and the tinkle of 
the falling streams is heard along the streets bor- 
dered by high walls which conceal the dense growth 
of tropical orchards. 

The evenings at Cuernavaca are magical. As 
the twilight gathers, the Mexicans, like the Jews, 
seek the housetop. There, on the flat roof, under 
the shadow of the grim Cathedral bearing in its 
tower the old clock presented by Charles V. to 
Cortes, and looking down upon the narrow streets 
where the great Captain and his cavaliers had so 
often ridden on their ruthless way, we saw the sun 
go down. We saw the light die on the breast of 
the "sleeping woman," Ixtaccihuatl, and the red 
flush fade slowly from the cheek of her watching 
lover, Popocatapetl. Then the western sky broke 
up into drifting fleeces of crimson and gold, the 
fires of the charcoal burners blinked from the hill- 
sides, the deep bell boomed from the Cathedral 
tower, the voices of the street, the bleat of the goats 
and the tinkle of the cow bells came faintly through 
the soft air, and all at once we were up, up, up, at 
the foot of the stars. From these enchanted 
heights the white-jacketed mozo recalled us, and 
in a languid dream we descended the long flights of 
stairs, crossed the dim, flower-scented court, and 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 53 

ate our frugal supper by the light of a smoky kero- 
sene lamp. 

There are beautiful rides around Cuernavaca and 
the services of a confidential and congenial little 
donkey can be procured for a small sum. There 
are also, for those who do not mind rough roads, 
picturesque drives of a few miles to waterfalls, 
caves, lakes and ruined temples. The delights^ of 
the landscape are inexhaustible. Add to this an 
almost perfect winter climate, an altitude not too 
high for active exercise, and comfortable hotels — 
the Alarcon is an American house — and you have 
all the things essential to the comfort and happiness 
of a traveler. 



154 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XVI. 

"Early to bed and early to rise," is the motto of 
the Mexican railroads, whose trains start out at 
daybreak and stop for the night. As if the early 
wakening were not discomfort enough, no hotel or 
restaurant in any city furnishes breakfast for the 
departing traveler. 

Innocently unconscious of this eccentricity on 
the part of Mexican landlords, we wandered one 
morning, in the half-light, through the streets of 
the Capital seeking our matutinal meal. The Itur- 
bide, the Sanz, the Jardin and the French and 
American restaurants presented to us closed doors 
and darkened windows. A policeman, carrying a 
dying lantern, to whom we at last appealed, told us 
that we would find breakfast at the estacion; so 
calling an early rising, shabby, yellow-fiag cab, we 
hastened thither. We found outside of the station 
a group of tables covered with cofifee-stained tow- 
els, and surrounded by a motly throng of shabby 
Spaniards, Mexicans in dirty serapes, Indians, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 155 

dark-faced women with their babies hanging to 
their backs, and pert dandies in golden spurs and 
velvet jackets. Eggs and coffee were cooking over 
a smoking brazier of burning charcoal, whose 
feeble glow was kept alive by the energetic use of 
a fan of cactus fiber. We ate our sour bread and 
drank our inky coffee with humble and contrite 
hearts, for our meal was made a most mournful one 
by the supplications of a pack of half-starved dogs 
who eyed each crumb wistfully. 

The Mexican R. R., or "Queen's Own," was built 
and is controlled by an English cornpany. The first- 
class cars, which are poorly ventilated and uncom- 
fortable, were crowded with commercial travelers. 
As usual I was the only woman. The Mexican 
women do not travel, and no arrangement for the 
comfort of the sefioras is made on the railway trains 
or in the hotels. Our poor sisters must have a 
very dull life. They are expected to go to church 
and pray for their husbands who will not pray for 
themselves, take care of the countless babies of the 
household, and keep their faces properly powdered. 
As a reward of merit they are occasionally treated 
to a street-car ride, but the idea of public duties or 
public life in any form for women, fills our neigh- 
bors with horror. Fortunately the men are gen- 
erous and chivalric and are always ready to toil 
for their femak relations. 



156 MEXICAN VISTAS 

The Mexican R. R., one of the scenic routes of 
the country, owing to the difficulties of construction 
and operation, is, perhaps, the costhest in the world. 
It may be said to be a holy railroad, as it was com- 
menced under the auspices of the Church, and 
before making its first trip received the solemn 
blessing of the ecclesiastical dignitaries. As we 
leave the city behind us, the churches and sacred 
shrine of Guadalupe come into view. Then from 
the plain arise the Pyramids of th-e Sun and the 
Moon at San Juan Teotihuacan,the former of which 
is more than half the size of the great Pyramid of 
Cheops in Egypt. Between the two pyramids the 
Street of the Dead can be distinctly traced from the 
flying train. Otumba, several miles further on, 
was Cortes' battleground, a few days after the 
defeat of "Noche Triste." We soon enter the 
maguey country, and if we drink pulque at all, it 
is well to drink it at Apam, where the pulque is con- 
sidered the best in Mexico. If we are sufficiently 
recovered from the dose by the time we reach Api- 
zaco, it is our duty as orthodox tourists to descend 
from the train and buy canes. At Apizaco we had 
an experience which contradicted — as many of our 
experiences did — the assertions of those Americans 
who contend that the Mexicans are all dishonest. 
A Mexican commercial traveler, a courteous and 
intelligent man, ofifered his advice on the subject 



MEXICAN VISTAS 157 

of canes, and rebuked the vender for selling them of 
unseasoned wood, which is liable to warp and 
change color. This sale of unseasoned wood is, 
by the way, as we afterward discovered, a common 
fraud in dealing with tourists. Our Mexican 
friend, although himself a resident of the city, also 
had the honesty to advise us not to stay any time 
in Vera Cruz, as he knew of several cases of yellow 
fever in the town ; and this, too, in spite of the fact 
that the railroads and hotels were constantly assert- 
ing that Vera Cruz was entirely free from the 
scourge. 

After leaving Apizaco the road skirts the base of 
the volcano Malintzi, while on the other hand rises 
Orizaba, his head buried in the clouds. Here is a 
stretch of country that is a veritable desert. The 
dust powders everything, and choking, perspiring 
humanity sees no beauty in Mexico. At Esperanza 
we slipped over the edge of the high plateau down 
into the chasm, dropping 4,000 feet in about thirty 
miles. The rush down grade, with brakes set, 
from the temperate to the torrid zone, was excit- 
ing. As we whirled, rocking around curve after 
curve, we looked down into deep, garden-like val- 
leys, and up mountain slopes covered with blue and 
white ageratum, scarlet mimulus, gorgeous crimson 
tulips, and countless tropical blossoms unknown to 
us. We saw at last the little town of Maltrata, its 



158 MEXICAN VISTAS 

red-tiled roofs shining in the sun 2,000 feet below 
us, and when, after a long detour, we steamed into 
the pretty station, we found women selling, in a 
really tropical climate, strange tropical fruits and 
orchids. To our amazement we also recognized 
the same Indian peddlers who had besieged us at 
our last stopping place on the mountain side. 
These unregenerate sons of the soil had taken the 
short cut, and while we were writhing and twisting 
around the curves they had rolled comfortably 
down the slope and were at the foot ready to greet 
us, as noisy and as aggressive as ever. 

After leaving Maltrata we entered the cafion of 
the Infernillo — little hell. The stream that rushes 
through the caiion accompanied us down into the 
green valley, and thence to Orizaba, where it sang 
all night under our windows lulling us to happy 
sleep. There are two hotels in Orizaba, the Dili- 
gencias and La Borda — both of them good. We 
chose the latter one, and were rewarded by a little 
bit of French life, which, after so much of Mexico, 
was charming. We ate our well-coaked dinner of 
potage, poulet, salade jardiniere, and wholesome 
vin ordinaire, with thankful hearts. We intended 
to drink a gallon of the tempting water, but were 
immediately warned that the last guests had been 
made very ill by it, so that we were obliged to con- 
tent ourselves with the song of the brook under our 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 59 

windows and the dash of the blessed rain against 
the pane. After the high, dry air and the choking 
dust of the plateau we reveled in the soft, damp, 
atmosphere of the lower levels. 

The great industries of Orizaba are the cotton 
factories — situated in the green valley in the neigh- 
borhood of Nogales — the sugar mills and the coffee 
plantations. The cotton mills, like those of Quere- 
taro, although in a climate peculiarly adapted to 
raising cotton, obtain most of their supply from 
New Orleans. These mills, which are very extensive, 
are equipped with modern machinery, and have 
altogether a most un-Mexican nineteenth century 
air. We visited one of the sugar houses and saw 
the cane crushed, pressed into syrup, and then 
boiled and strained. The finished product is very 
sweet and pure, but the dark-colored cakes weigh- 
ing several pounds each are not tempting. Behind 
the sugar house that we visited is a beautiful garden 
with a gorgeous display of hibiscus. 

Orizaba is one of the great coffee centers of Mex- 
ico. The coffee plant, with its smooth, shining 
leaves, and red berries, somewhat resembles a dwarf 
cherry. The red fruit, when split, is found to con- 
tain two coffee berries lying face to face. As the 
common belief is that the coffee plant suffers from 
the direct rays of the sun, it is generally grown 
under the shadow of a banana or some other fruit 



l60 MEXICAN VISTAS 

tree. Nevertheless a successful coffee grower 
assured us that such a shield is unnecessary, as he 
had raised the finest coffee without any covering. 
So it seems that the rules governing coffee culture 
are like those governing politics and religion — 
every man chooses his own. In Orizaba the coffee 
grows in an orthodox fashion under the banana. 
These broad-leaved plants, with their great clusters 
of fruit ending in the huge swinging tassel of the 
purple blossoms, attain a height of twelve or fif- 
teen feet. 

The drive to the Four Cascades is along a pleas- 
ant road leading through a plantation, between the 
pale green files of the waving cane fields and the 
shining coffee plants. A pretty little dark-faced 
elf of a child came running from one of the cane- 
walled, palm-thatched huts to beg of us, and then, 
half-frightened at our strange faces, ran back again 
to the sheltering arms of her liquid-eyed mother. 
The pair would have delighted the pencil of a 
Murillo. All along the wayside grew bright-hued 
flowers ; the scarlet honeysuckle tangled the grasses 
and the Four Cascades were literally set in blos- 
soms. We were told, to our disgust, that the 
power in these waterfalls was to be utilized for 
manufacturing, and that the beauty of the spot 
was to be destroyed. 

As we turned to leave the Cascades we saw on 



MEXICAN VISTAS l6l 

the ground what looked to be a moving mat of 
verdure, which upon investigation proved to be 
composed of small leaves about the size of water- 
cress leaves. Each little leaf was borne upon the 
back of an agile ant. There was an army of these 
little insects, all in active motion, seemingly with 
some point in view. It was evident that the apathy 
of the climate had not crept into the veins of this 
army with the green banners. In view of the 'de- 
struction of the waterfalls we at first expressed a wish 
that the industries of mankind could be carried on 
with as little injury to the beauties of nature as the 
industries of these tiny earth-toilers. But as, upon 
closer examination, these busy ants seemed to us to 
resemble the bebehanas of Cuba, which dismantle 
an orchard in a few hours, we concluded to be satis- 
fied with the destructive abilities of our kind. 

There is the usual equipment of churches in 
Orizaba, several of which contain creditable pic- 
tures by a local artist, Gabriel Barranca, who seems 
to draw his inspiration from the old masters. 
Naturally, however, his isolated life imposes upon 
him serious limitations. There is a good monu- 
ment in the pretty plaza, and over on the hill is a 
cross which marks one of the battle grounds of 
the French invasion. The city is, on the whole, a 
charming place, but to us, after the dry, treeless, 



l62 MEXICAN VISTAS 

plains of central Mexico, the most glorious things 
in Orizaba were "God's first temples," and his 
blessed rain. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 63 



CHAPTER XVII. 

We reluctantly left Hotel La Borda in the dim- 
ness of an early .morning and were bounced 
through the muddy streets of Orizaba to the sta- 
tion. The route between Orizaba and Vera Cruz 
is even more picturesque than between Esperanza 
and Orizaba. The Barranca or Cafion of the Met- 
lac, with its leaping river i,ooo feet below the rails, 
and its moist, tropical vegetation, is one of the 
finest bits of scenery on the Mexican railway's. 
The road leads on, always descending, through 
jungle-like forests and fields of gorgeous bloom 
to the curious old town of Cordova. Cordova was 
formerly a very important place, but as white men 
find the unhealthy climate unfitted for labor the 
town has, since the emancipation of the slaves, de- 
clined greatly in importance. The quaint streets 
of the old city have a foreign and almost a ghoul- 
ish air, but it is in Cordova that one sees the trop- 
ical fruits in their fullest perfection. Here we were 
served with the only real pineapples I ever ate out 



164 MEXICAN VISTAS 

of Cuba. I will not go so far as to say that they 
equaled the creamy Cuban pineapple, but they 
were not in the least like those hard cones, seem- 
ingly soaked in sulphuric acid, which we of the 
north call pineapples. Of course travelers in Cor- 
dova are, sooner or later, inveigled into buying one 
of those immense bushel basket bouquets of scarlet 
or white camelias which are sold on the street for 
about ten cents of our money. 

After leaving Cordova we slid off from the last 
of the mountain benches into the tierra caliente, 
or tropical lands near the coast. The ride through 
the dank jungles and over the dazzling reaches of 
white sand to Vera Cruz is a hot one, and the end 
of it all is discomfort and extortion. Our experi- 
ence in V^era Cruz was that of most travelers. The 
birds of prey — not the feathered ones, which for- 
tunately we escaped — picked our bones. The 
street-car line, which is owned by the state, allows 
no carriages in the city. In addition to this sin 
against the traveling public the company seems to 
be also in league with the cargadorcs, or porters, 
and no car meets the trains ; so the tourist, fresh 
from a cool climate, is obliged to walk through 
the noon-day heat of a tropical sun to the hotel. 
I headed the perspiring and eloquent procession, 
bearing a huge white bouquet of Cordova camelias, 
which gave me the appearance of a bride carrying 



MEXICAN VISTAS 165 

my wedding cake to the church. The cameUas 
bore the ordeal better that I did, for I think I 
should surely have fainted had not three big turkey 
buzzards followed me with hungry eyes, and I was 
afraid to fall lest they should pick me up. 

Cortes landed at Vera Cruz, just south of the 
Island of San Juan de Alloa. Upon the sandy 
beach of that most beautiful of all seas, the Gulf 
of Mexico, he established his camp and planted his 
artillery. His little army suffered fearfully from 
the heat of the spring sun — it was in the month of 
April — and the swamps and marshes in the vicinity 
pouring out their deadly exhalations soon brought 
the now-dreaded vomito or yellow fever, until that 
time practically imknown. Undeterred, however, 
by the heat, by pestilence, by venomous insects, 
the terrors of a savage foe, or the dangers of a 
strange country, the conquerors built the town; 
which they called Villa Rica de Vera Cruz — the 
Rich City of the True Cross. In August the army 
quitted the new town and moved forward across 
the beautiful lands of the tierra caliente and up the 
mountain sides to the table lands of central Mex- 
ico. Three hundred and twenty-five years later 
General Scott landed on the same spot, and from 
the City of Vera Cruz started on his victorious 
march to the City of Mexico. 

There is little to see in Vera Cruz except the 



1 66 MEXICAN VISTAS 

dirty streets, the turkey buzzards, which act as gen- 
eral garbage commissioners, and a horrible black 
figure of Christ, which blemishes one of the 
churches. The Vera Cruzans dwell with ecstasy 
upon the fact that there is only one other like it in 
the world. I should hope not. The other one, 
which is in Havana, is fully as ugly as that in Mex- 
ico, and neither of them has any spiritual signifi- 
cance. The town of Vera Cruz has every reason to 
be the unhealthiest place in the world, for, in addi- 
tion to the deadly climate, the sewage runs in open 
gutters by the side of the street, and the pedestrian 
and the burro alike stir up the living mass. To add 
to the other discomforts, numerous energetic in- 
sects abound which eat everything, even to wood, 
so that the telegraph and telephone poles are made 
of iron. 

For the foregoing, and a few other reasons, we 
were only too glad to turn our backs on Vera Cruz, 
where everybody, from the waiter to the express 
company, swindled us, and join the triumphal pro- 
cession on its march to the station. I will add, for 
the benefit of future travelers, that it is best not to 
take heavy baggage to Vera Cruz, for the railroad 
charges enormously for the smallest trunks, and 
that if you trust your hand-baggage to a cargadore 
it is better to have the contract with him as to price 
sworn to before a public notary. We neglected 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 67 

this wise precaution, and were obliged to pay just 
four times the tariff demanded for such service in 
the City of Mexico. It is useless to appeal to the 
authorities, for they are all in league with what- 
ever enterprise puts a little unlawful money into 
the purse of the Vera Cruzans. It was therefore 
with a feeling of exultation that we at last got off, 
and from all accounts got off cheaply, from the Rich 
City of the True Cross. The fresh sea breeze hltw 
through the car, and swept from our garments and 
from our minds all bitter thoughts of Vera Cruz, its 
intolerable odors, its yellow fever, and its birds of 
prey. After all, this was the only unpleasant, if 
not the only uncomfortable, experience^ we had in 
Mexico. 

The country between Vera Cruz and Jalapa, 
where the train stops for the night, is rich and 
capable of a high cultivation. In these fertile 
wastes are hidden mines of gold waiting to be dug 
out by a race with the energy for the work and the 
physique to endure the climate. The International 
R. R., a narrow-gauge road, is in some places a 
marvelous piece of engineering. Within a distance 
of a few miles there are nearly one hundred horse- 
shoe curves, and at Harumbo, the deepest railway 
cut in Mexico, there is a complete loop. Just be- 
fore reaching Jalapa we crossed the battlefields of 
Cerro Gordo, and National Bridge, where Scott 



l68 MEXICAN VISTAS 

won notable victories in the Mexican war. Soon 
after crossing the bridge we saw a glow ahead of 
us, and out of the darkness and the rain we rolled 
into the electric-lighted station of Jalapa. 

Jalapa is remarkable for several things. To the 
weary traveler the most important of its many ad- 
vantages is the fact that it has one of the best hotels 
in Mexico, with electric lights and a court filled 
with tropical bloom. If I mention also the fact that 
the breakfast table is spread with brown oil-cloth 
and that only tearful supplications, will move the 
stony-hearted mozo to indulge the breakfaster with 
a plate, it is not in a spirit of carping criticism, but 
merely to remind myself that even a sugar-coated 
pill has a bitter heart, and that life — especially in 
Mexico — is full of vicissitudes, 

Jalapa was an old town even in Cortes' day, and 
since his invading army marched through its nar- 
row streets many other armies have come and 
gone. The Americans, after the battle of Cerro 
Gordo — which was fought on that round-topped 
hill over yonder — and the battle of National Bridge, 
marched through Jalapa, and in their victorious 
ranks marched Grant and Thomas, Longstreet and 
Lee. Down these streets went also a retreating 
army led by Marshal Bazaine, the great French 
Retreater, who, afterward, in the Franco-Prussian 
war, surrendered a force of 125,000 full-grown men ; 



MEXICAN VISTAS 1 69 

Bazaine took the road to Vera Cruz, where he em- 
barked with liis troops for France, leaving poor 
Maximihan to his fate. 

An important source of revenue to Jalapa is that 
old-fashioned drug, jalap. We hear little of it in 
this generation, but it doubtless enters into the 
composition of many of the patent ''liver invigora- 
tors" of the present day. The bitter jalap is a near 
relation of our sweet climbing morning-glory, so 
we see that even the flower families have their un- 
pleasant connections. The principal business of 
Jalapa seems to be gambling, and in the evening 
the little plaza is given over to the white tent and 
the white umbrella, under whose shade keno, monte 
and other games are extensively patronized. The 
government receives twenty per cent of the rev- 
enues, and in addition has a lottery of its own which 
yields immense profits. One day while we were in 
Jalapa an official drawing took place, and the win- 
ning numbers were posted in all the public places. 

We went one afternoon, between the showers, to 
the neighboring village of Coatepec, where one sees 
the coffee haciendas of Mexico in their fullest per- 
fection. The funny little tramway runs through a 
New England hill country, and a New England 
brook chatters beside the way. There is a pretty 
plaza and the usual church in Coatepec, but I could 
not fathom the secret of its attraction for bridal 



lyO MEXICAN VISTAS 

couples. Four happy pairs accompanied us on the 
trip and made Ahasuerus and myself feel like hard- 
hearted worldlings — withoutloveand without ideals. 
It is evident that Mexican bridal couples, except for 
their richer tints, are much like American brides 
and bridegrooms. 

There is a charming trip down a picturesque 
ravine to Jiltopec, which, if one appreciates scenery 
from the point of view of the back of a dripping 
burro, .i§,.^. well, worth . taking. The old town, 
too, with its torturing pavements of sharp cobble- 
stones, its narrow streets washed clean by the rain, 
and its quaint overhanging roofs, is romantic 
enough to tempt the stranger to a long sojourn; 
but unhappily Jalapa is most of the time in the 
clouds and its skies continuahy do weep. It rained 
and rained, and after listening to the woeful tale of 
a commercial traveler who had been waiting in the 
hotel eighteen days for fair weather to take a moun- 
tain trip, we went our way. But fate was kind to 
us, for, the morning before we left, the skies cleared 
for a time, and we saw the beautiful mountain Ori- 
zaba rising before us like a white spirit. At the 
right, in the golden clefts of the burned-out volcano 
Perote, were heaped masses of fleecy clouds which 
overflowed and dripped down the mountain side in 
snowy garlands ; but while we looked, holding our 
breaths lest we should lose something, the gray 



MEXICAN VISTAS I7I 

curtain dropped down again, and Orizaba and 
Perote became once more invisible to the eyes of 
moist but enraptured flesh. 



172 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XVIIL 

I think the matter has not been before men- 
tioned, but to me the Mexican commercial traveler 
seems to have round eyes of an owl-like sagacity 
and a voice that is almost a hoot. These peculiari- 
ties I credit to his living so much in the half-light. 
I am persuaded that if I should for two years catch 
the early trains and travel on the late ones I should 
develop circular visual organs, a coat of feathers 
and a desire to roost in a tree-top. The morning 
we left Jalapa we rose at four o'clock, and took our 
breakfast from the obnoxious oil tablecloth, dec- 
orated for the occasion with cofifee and beer rings. 
We could not obtain from the flinty-souled mozo, 
even for a consideration, the boon of a plate — we 
were the parting guests and our nimble nickles 
were worth only their face value. We felt that our 
reign was indeed over, and sadly and humbly we 
gathered up the crumbs scattered over the brown 
oil-cloth and swallowed them with an abject spirit. 

Mexican movements are slow. It seemed to us 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



173 



that we got up to catch the train about bed time, 
but the sun was tinting the sky with salmon and 
gold when we finally steamed out of the station. 
For long hours we rode through the black ashes 
of the dead volcanic fires with which that great peak, 
the Coffre de Perote, has strewn these regions. 
There must have been troublous times here once, 
and one cannot help fearing that Mexico will some- 
time again see 
the fires kindled 
upon her moun- 
tain tops ; but 
the shimmering 
mists are seem- 
ingly anxious to 
hide the desola- 
tion, and as we 
climbed upward 

the black waste was buried under blankets of fleecy 
clouds. Over this same mountain road, above 
these floating masses, and through these burned- 
out ashes, went Cortes before us ; and we see his 
handiwork in the immense fortifications of the 
Castle of Perote^ which was built to defend the 
highway over which the Spanish army, marching 
into the interior, received all its supplies. 

As we slipped down the last range of mountains 
the valley, with its waving grain fields and the white 





-1 - ;«..>;^ ./, 






1 


ta#..^ 


^ 


&«S 



A MEXICAN HACIENDA. 



174 MEXICAN VISTAS 

towers of the far-off haciendas, came into view. 
At a distance these haciendas have really an air of 
elegance, and doubtless some of them are the 
homes of luxury and refinement; but generally it 
is best not to allow the nose to follow too closely 
after the eyes, and, above all, when in the imme- 
diate vicinity of many of these crowded plantations 
dismiss from your minds all preconceived prej- 
udices on the subject of sanitation, cleanliness, or 
proper food. We visited one hacienda, the prop- 
erty of a man who had been many times governor of 
his state. It was a fine old place and had been in 
the family for more than three hundred years. 
From appearances I should judge that, in all that 
time, no water had touched the woodwork or the 
windows. The glass was festooned with dead 
flies, and the doors were so filthy that we would not 
touch them with our hands, but pushed them open 
with our feet. The meals, which were the worst 
we found in Mexico, were served by offensively 
unclean waiters, and the repasts were topped off 
by extract of coffee poured from an ancient, mil- 
dewed pepper-sauce bottle into a cup of dirty goat's 
milk. 

But let us dismiss such ungracious remem- 
brances from our minds, and remember only how 
beautiful, how like fairy palaces those fortress 
homes looked that sunny day, as they rose against 



MEXICAN VISTAS 175 

the dusty horizon with the grandest of all the Mex- 
ican mountains — Malintzi — for a background. 
Malintzi bears upon its crest the great helmeted 
figure which to the superstitious Montezuma bore 
the likeness of the terrible stranger, Cortes. I saw 
distinctly the helmeted head and the massive limbs 
of the Conqueror, and then I read in the guide- 
book a vivid description of ''the long hair of the 
maiden that streams down the mountain sixie." 
Evidently the writer did not see the same picture 
that we saw. What a beneficent providence it is 
that allows us to deck these profile mountains Avith 
the forms and the features that best please us. 

Keeping always in sight of the four "smoking 
mountains" — Popocatepetl, Ixtaccihuatl, Orizaba 
and Malintzi — none of which, although native 
Mexicans, really smoke — we steamed across the 
plain toward the shining domes of Puebla. Puebla 
is a ''holy city," founded by Cortes in the shadow 
of that other holy city, Cholulu, whose shrines he 
had despoiled, and whose innocent inhabitants he 
had put to the sword. According to tradition the 
town was laid out by angels, who, in their capacity 
of real-estate agents, gave all the corner lots to the 
church. Those who have visited Continental cities 
will agree that there seems to be a subtle relation 
between sanctity and smells, and that a holy city is 
apt to be rank to the nostrils. Puebla is no ex- 



176 



MEXICAN VISTAS 




HOTEL CORRIDOR, PUEBLA 



ceptlon to the rule, although, as in the Capital, 
there is no visible reason for such a condition of 
affairs. The streets of the city look clean and the 

watering - pot 
and the cactus- 
fiber broom are 
everywhere in 
evidence. From 
the top of the 
hill of Cinco de 
Mayo the town, 
with its white 
walls and domes of shining tile, is reahy a dream 
city, and perhaps it is unkind to mention that there 
are other spots where Puebla seems to be another 
kind of a dream — a nightmare. 

We could forgive Puebla everything, however, 
because of its salads. These salads are com- 
pounded of waxy white and green lettuce so dain- 
tily tinted that it feeds the eyes as well as the stom- 
ach. Upon the delicate greenery are piled little 
mounds of scarlet tomatoes and ivory slices of alli- 
gator pear, and over the whole is sprinkled, in exact 
proportions, a dressing of salt, pepper, and delicious 
oil. I never ate like salad elsewhere and I am 
inclined to believe that such gastronomic perfection 
is impossible except when mixed in a low, dark 
room clouded with tobacco smoke, and by a Mexi- 



MEXICAN VISTAS I77 

can boy clad in a velvet jacket and with his hair 
dressed a la pompadour. 

Puebla is highly esteemed of the guide-books 
for her tiled domes and buildings, which are cer- 
tainly curious, much resembling the sample cards 
of the new spring styles of shirting. The city has 
been the battleground of Mexico. Here Iturbide, 
before he saw the star of liberty, met the army of 
Mexican patriots, and here General Scott's troops 
encamped after capturing the city. The hill of 
Cinco de Mayo is a historic mound. Up its rocky 
sides swarmed the French attacking the Mexicans, 
who, under General Zaragoza, had intrenched 
themselves in the little church of Guadalupe on the 
summit. The French army, at that time repulsed, 
was, four years later, besieged on the same hill and 
captured by General (now President) Diaz. At the 
foot of the hill is an equestrian statue of Zaragoza. 
It should have a companion one of Diaz, who not 
only fought for his country, but, like the good 
Juarez, has lived for her. 

The great staple of Puebla is onyx. It is made 
into all sorts of useless and foolish articles which by 
no means tempt the purchaser. By the time an 
American has reached maturity, he is not inclined 
to throw away money on fat pears, diminutive flat- 
irons and absurd animals, even if made of the beau- 
tiful Puebla onyx. The Mexicans, however, thor- 



178 MEXICAN VISTAS 

oughly delight in childish toys, in beaded sombre- 
ros, tiny stirrups, gaudy dolls, and antique gods 
fresh from the factory. The markets of Puebla, 
like those of other Mexican towns, are delightful 
in the morning, and decidedly unappetizing later in 
the day. It was in the Puebla market that I first 
comprehended the real outwardness of tomales. I 
saw women gathering from the dirty floor the trod- 
den cornhusks which had enveloped the tomales 
eaten in the market that day. These, we were told, 
were washed and served for another day. I ate no 
more tomales in Mexico. 

As Puebla is a holy city, it is naturally filled with 
churches. The Cathedral is, in my opinion, much 
finer than the more famous one in the City of Mex- 
ico, although like the latter the beauty of the in- 
terior is marred by the choir in the middle of the 
nave. Still the size of the church prevents it from 
looking crowded, and the side altars are particularly 
fine. We were so unfortunate as to reach Puebla 
Easter week, and the constant clanging of the bells 
nightly broke our slumbers, for Puebla is suffi- 
ciently holy to defy civil taw, which, for some rea- 
son, does not enforce its statutes against so-called 
church prerogatives. In spite, however, of the 
ecclesiastical atmosphere of the city, the sentiment 
of the people does not seem to me really religious. 
Indeed, the Holy Week services, with the clanging 



MEXICAN VISTAS 179 

of meaningless bells, the high, dreary intonations of 
the priests, the swinging of the censers by irrever- 
ent boys, and the flashy music, seemed more like 
an auction than a religious service, and I could not 
help contrasting it with some most beautiful and 
impressive Holy Week services I once heard in the 
famous Cathedral of Amiens. Evidently the Mex- 
icans have more pride in their national glory than 
love for, or belief in, their national religion. Neither 
have they that artistic sense which the Catholic 
Church has always delighted to foster. In the 
beautiful Church of the Soledad we were moved 
almost to tears at the sight of a bevy of workmen 
who were busily and contentedly covering the mag- 
nificent old gilded altars of the Chapel of the Ro- 
sary with shining white paint. The lovers of art on 
this continent should form a secret society for the 
purpose of stealing the paint pots from Mexico. 

In the Church of San Francisco I found a new 
saint. I had already a patron saint — St. Barbara — 
who protects from all my individual terrors — thun- 
der, lightning, gunpowder, and I hope also kero- 
sene lamps. But she is a guardian saint, while my 
new one, who is called St. Sebastian de Aparicio, is 
a saint for imitation. He first introduced into 
Mexico oxen and wheeled carts, and for many years 
he drove the Cannon-Bail, Limited, Ox Express 
from Puebla to Vera Cruz. A series of pictures in 



l8o MEXICAN VISTAS 

one of the side chapels of the San Francisco repre- 
sents the important events of his holy and useful 
life. In one picture we see him walking, dry-shod, 
over a river, while the heads of his swimming oxen 
are just visible above the surface of the water. In 
another picture angels are pulling the ox cart out 
of the mud. Heaven bless you, dear old work-a- 
day saint, and heaven bless your angels, for your 
creed of pious labor is the only one that will ever 
redeem this benighted land. You were the true 
apostle of civilization and enlightenment, the fore- 
runner of the railways and the public schools. Let 
us hope that your saintly prayers will prevail upon 
those winged angels of tiie Lord, Knowledge and 
Industry, to come again, and pull this land out of 
the mire of sloth and ignorance. 

We shall always remember Puebla on account of 
the remarkable adventures we had there while 
searching for baths. The guide-books speak with 
unction of the fine baths in the city, so we started 
out to find them. The first place we entered had 
good rooms, fine tubs and snowy towels — but ice- 
cold water. As we were already congealing in our 
furs, we did not care for that, so we drove in the 
teeth of a bitter wind at least two miles, to another 
part of the city, where there were said to be vapor 
baths. At the end of our Arctic expedition we 
were conducted by way of a miry cow-yard to a 



MEXICAN VISTAS -151 

collection of dungeons, through whose grated 
floors ascended clouds of steam and incense which 
was -not holy incense. The attendant said it was 
sulphur, but I fear it was a Mexican product, and 
not honest American sulphur. The maid also 
hazarded the opinion that the baths were good for 
all kinds of diseases, an assertion I did not question, 
for when I inhaled the steam I felt as though I had 
been exposed to yellow fever, smallpox and typhus, 
all at once; so with a shiver we wended our way 
back again through the cow-yard. I am glad to 
record that we did, in the end, find well-equipped 
baths in one of the hotels. I had a distinct impres- 
sion, however, that the people of the place con- 
sidered it highly indelicate for a sefiora to want a 
bath. It is a strange thing that in a climate where 
water is a necessity, and among conditions where 
only repeated and thorough soakings are effective, 
the bathtub is lacking in almost all homes and 
hotels, and the use of it is regarded, to say the least, 
as unusual and eccentric. 

One autumn morning in the year 15 19 the inhab- 
itants of the sacred city of Cholulu rose early. For 
many days strange guests had tarried among them, 
whose marvelous fire-spitting weapons, awe-inspir- 
ing animals (horses were until that time unknown 
to the Mexicans), and personal prowess had kept 
the whole city in a state of terror. The time had 



l82 MEXICAN VISTAS 

now come when they were to be dehvered from the 
presence of the feared and detested Spaniard, and 
the Chohilans, filled with joy at the prospect of their 
release, gathered in the plaza, under the shadow of 
the holy pyramid, upon whose summit the sacred 
fires were blazing. But in a moment this scene of 
joyful anticipation was turned into one of terror and 
anguish. Cortes and his army, affecting to doubt 
the faith of the people whose guests they had been, 
fell upon the gathered multitudes and put them all 
to the sword. The Indians, clad only in their cot- 
ton garments, offered little resistance to the sharp 
blades of the conquerors, whose heavy mail was 
proof against the light missiles of the Cholulans. 
Those who did not fall by the sword were mown 
down by the artillery or trampled under the feet of 
the horses, and the evening of the day that had 
opened so brightly saw smoking and blackened 
houses, and streets choked with dead bodies. The 
ruin of the city completed, Cortes ascended the 
pyramid to the teocalli, freed the victims awaiting 
sacrifice, burned the temple, and erected a cross 
in its stead. Thus in carnage and cruelty was in- 
augurated the first great missionary enterprise in 
America. 

Cholulu, at the time of Cortes a very old city, 
must have been a holy place even before the coming 
of the Aztecs, for if the archeologists are right the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 183 

pyramid was built not by the Cholulans, who were 
the contemporaries of the Aztecs, but by those 
great mound-builders, the Olmecs or Toltecs. In- 
deed, if we may believe Ignatius Donnelly, we may 
refer the hill to unknown antiquity; for this ec- 
centric and enthusiastic investigator believes Cho- 
lulu to be the original Tower of Babel. The Aztec 
tradition credits the founding of the city to the god 
Quetzalcoatl, the greatest and best of all the Aztec 
divinities. It is related that Quetzalcoatl, fleeing 
from persecution, found an asylum among the Cho- 
lulans to whom he taught agriculture, weaving, 
architecture and the practical arts of peace. The 
mild creed of Quetzalcoatl was opposed to human 
sacrifice, and fruits and flowers were the offerings 
he taught the people to lay upon the altar. There 
is a legend among the southern Indians that the 
"bearded god," as the fair-skinned Quetzalcoatl 
was called, was in reality St. Thomas, who, fleeing 
from persecution, trusted himself to the unknown 
sea and landed on the coast of America. It is cer- 
tain that the Spaniards did not first bring the Cross 
to Mexico, for one of the most amazing sights to 
the conquerors was the stone emblem which so 
often rose beside the teocalli. It was called by the 
natives the "Tree of Life," and its four arms point- 
ing toward the cardinal points were supposed to be 



184 MEXICAN VISTAS 

an appeal to the four winds of heaven to bring the 
wished-for rain. 

The good and peaceful god Quetzalcoatl re- 
mained with the Cholulans for a season and then 
disappeared, promising to return again some time 
in the future. Although his flower-decked altars 
were soon desecrated with human sacrifice, the 
gentle god himself was not forgotten, and his sec- 
ond coming was looked for with much the same 
anticipations that the ancient Jews watched for the 
coming of the Messiah. It is not strange, there- 
fore, that the superstitious Montezuma mistook the 
fair-skinned Cortes, with his bearded cavaliers, for 
the long looked-for god, and was not undeceived 
until too late to save his kingdom. 

The mule-cars, which jolt along the rough road 
from Puebla to Cholulu, are comfortless and dirty ; 
but the country through which they creak, with its 
reaches of waving grain, picturesque haciendas, 
and fields of maguey, is, when the dust lifts, really 
charming. As we climbed the long, winding way 
to the top of the pyramid, we saw the same 
landscape that Cortes, in his day, saw — the three 
volcanoes and the wind-swept plain. We saw also 
the shining domes of Puebla, that holy city founded 
by him in the place of the one he had so ruthlessly 
destroyed. The church which Cortes built on the 
site of the teocalli was destroyed by an earthquake, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 185 

SO that the chapel on top of the pyramid is, the loca- 
tion considered, more modern than one could wish, 
although its spiritual atmosphere seems positively 
archaic. 

The modern Cholulan differs from his progenitor 
in one respect — he is not so anxious to speed the 
parting guest; rather is he desirous to bind him 
hand and foot, and keep him until his store of 
sheckles be exhausted. In exchange for the cov- 
eted silver he proposes to give bits of colored glass, 
small pebbles, idols with effaced features, and ob- 
sidian blades. But why should we judge harshly 
this poor offspring of a subject race. He has been 
so long himself a victim of robbery that it is little 
wonder that he has learned some of the lessons 
taught in the school of oppression. 

The Cholulans are very poor, there is no doubt of 
it, and as we stood on the Pyramid, we saw the rea- 
son for this poverty. Rising above the valley, 
which has a population of about 5,000 souls, 
are the spires of twenty-seven churches — some 
of them in deserted fields distant from town and 
seemingly abandoned — a sad commentary upon the 
state of religion in Mexico. Evidently the new 
belief is not so vital as the faith it superseded, for in 
Cortes' day the temples were filled with worshipers, 
and here, upon this holy mount, the fires of the 
sacrifice were continually burning. Upon the 



1 86 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



pyramid of Cholulu alone twelve thousand victims 
vvrere each year offered. The modern church has, 
how^ever, only itself to blame for the present con- 
dition of affairs. It has wasted its revenues in 
needless church building, and puts its consolations, 




ON THE STREETS OF CHOLULA. 



even its holy sacraments, beyond the reach of any 
but a well-filled purse. We were constantly in- 
formed that marriage, on account of the attendant 
expense, was almost unknown among the poorer 
classes, and was unpopular among the middle 
classes. Indeed, a wise economy rules even so im- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 187 

portant a duty as the registration of births. A 
stringent ordinance was passed last winter requir- 
ing parents to register the births of all their chil- 
dren, and the Mexican public was treated to the 
amusing spectacle of fathers registering the births 
of grown-up and married children, and of young 
men themselves presenting their own birth certifi- 
cates for record. 

To study the modern Cholulan one should sit as 
we did in the sunny plaza, which is on the very spot 
where the ancient Cholulans were massacred, and 
gaze upon the loitering crowds. T^he markets, 
especially on Sunday morning, do a thriving busi- 
ness. The little piles of peas, beans, coffee, fruit 
and nuts, the tiny mounds of bacon, steaks and 
chops, the baskets of struggling, suffering poultry, 
and the squeaking pigs vainly tugging to free their 
legs from the cruel rope, are like those seen in all 
the Mexican market places. On the four sides of 
the plaza extend the churches, and under their holy 
shadow — but not always in accordance with their 
divine ordinances — the buying and the selling, the 
struggling and the squeaking go merrily on. 

As we sat this bright morning in the market 
place, all at once, above the din, the church bells 
clanged. In an instant everything was dropped, 
the whole throng moved in solemn procession to- 
ward the church door, and Ahasuerus and I were 



l88 MEXICAN VISTAS 

left alone in the sunshine of the deserted plaza. We 
could hear the roll of the organ, the droning voice 
of the priest. A light breeze moved through the 
place, scattering the fragrance from the flower 
stalls ; a little bird in the pepper-tree above our 
heads burst into song. ''Truly," we said to each 
other, "Cholulu is a holy city." 

The notes of the organ died away, the droning 
chant ceased, the church doors opened, and with 
an air of relief the bustling throng moved to their 
places, where the squawking of the cruelly handled 
fowl and the squealing of the bartered pigs began 
again — religion was done with, and business was on 
hand. And now came the Sunday bull-fight pro- 
cession. This particular day it was a burlesque 
bull-fight, a sport which nevertheless meant torture 
and death to the poor dejected bull, who, covered 
with wreaths and garlands, headed the column. 
The toreadors who followed were clowns, with the 
familiar painted faces and the wide trousers of the 
American buffoon. They were succeeded by a 
bevy of hard-faced circus riders wearing their full 
skirts of the Mexican national colors, and by female 
charioteers, exchanging gibes with the crowd. As 
eagerly as they had flocked to the church at the 
sound of the bell, the crowd now flocked to see the 
fun, and the erstwhile devout church-goers disap- 
peared under the arch of the bull-ring. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 189 

Ahasuerus and I, finding ourselves once more 
alone in the plaza, decided to enter one of the empty 
churches. But no sooner had we seated ourselves 
before the grand altar, beneath the cool shadow of 
the vaulted ceiling, than a crowd of beggars en- 
tered and surrounded us. They were evidently the 
impecunious ones who had not the price of admis- 
sion to the bull-ring, and who saw in us the fore- 
ordained ministers to their pleasure. In vain we 
turned deaf ears to their solicitations. They be- 
came earnest, pressing, and finally even threatening 
in their demands, and we quitted our sacred retreat, 
saying to each other with a disgusted air, "Who is 
it that says Cholulu is a holy city ?" 



190 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XIX. 

The trip from Puebla to Oaxaca is a tiresome 
one, and only good travelers, with a philosophical 
disposition to make the best of things, should at- 
tempt it. We rose as usual by starlight, nibbled 
our crusts in the crowded station, and ensconced 
ourselves in the narrow-gauge cars. The first- 
class cars were shabby and dirty, but when we saw 
the second and third class ones we held our peace, 
and pondered on our mercies. And after all what 
did it matter, when outside the two white volcanoes 
were flushing in the dawn, when old Malintzi was 
catching the first glimmer of light on his snowy 
head, and, far, far away, across the plain, Orizaba 
was beginning to show his white peak like the 
tip of an angel's pinion? 

For more than fifty miles we rode silent in the 
midst of this grandeur, and then all at once we 
entered a caiion where a little brook, bordered with 
green banks and waving boughs, cascaded beside 
us. In spite of our feasting eyes, however, we 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



191 



found the time from five o'clock in the morning 
until two o'clock in the afternoon a long fast, and 
were glad to break it with a sponge-cake which we 
bought of an enchanting dark-eyed maiden at one 
of the stations. The cake would have been really 
excellent if we could have forgotten the Indian 
woman who probably made it. We dined at last in 
a Chinese cabin with a dirt floor. The ceilings 




A ZAPOTEC WOMAN. 



were decorated with hams, bacon and graceful fes- 
toons of sausages, dried apples and onions. Out- 
side the little brook chattered briskly, and the birds 



192 MEXICAN VISTAS 

in the branches endeavored to drown its voice with 
their songs. 

After leaving the dinner station we entered the 
canon of San Antonio, and rode until dark between 
mountain walls lifting themselves thousands of feet 
above us. In our day's journey we descended into 
the torrid zone, with its coffee fields and waving 
palms and bananas, and rose again to the grain and 
corn fields of the temperate zone. We saw the 
natives washing gold from the bed of the cafion 
stream, and the husbandmen tilling with crooked 
sticks their little patches of ground, whose new- 
turned soil, pricked by the springing grain, curi- 
ously resembled porous-plasters upon the mountain 
side. We passed through quaint Indian villages 
whose picturesque inhabitants brought their wares 
to the station to sell, and watched the long burro 
trains patiently climbing the weary mountain 
passes. It was late m the evening when we at length 
reached Oaxaca and were met by a blessed Amer- 
ican landlord, who took us to a blessed Ameri- 
ican hotel, where we ate once more the delightfully 
indigestible fried potato and drank our fill of the 
pure mountain water. No vintage in France or 
Italy knows the secret of that bouquet — the nectar 
of the gods — which after our long thirst we quafifed 
with the appetite of modern Jupiters. And here, 
too, in Oaxaca, we found the first really perfect 



MEXICAN VISTAS I93 

climate we had seen in Mexico. All our heavy 
wraps came off and I reveled in the sunshine and in 
shirtwaists. 

In spite of this eulogy, which sounds somewhat 
like the advertisement of a climatic resort, I own no 
springs and no real estate in Oaxaca, neither did I 
go there a wretched consumptive and return an 
athlete. I was not even the fortunate one to dis- 
cover the peculiar advantages of the Oaxaca' soil 
and climate. That first-class judge of real estate, 
Cortes, was there before me, and among other 
trifles he obtained from the Spanish government a 
grant of the whole valley ; and here, for a time, he 
made his home. But an older and a greater than 
Cortes and his band of adventurers has lived here 
— a nation whose civilization is forgotten, but 
whose ruined cities cover the hillsides around 
Oaxaca. This is the paradise of the archeologists, 
and the representatives of the New York Museum 
who had been prosecuting the researches in Yu- 
catan were, at the time of our arrival in Oaxaca, 
endeavoring to unearth the secrets hidden in these 
mighty ruins. Some of the traditions concerning 
the buried cities are very interesting. On St. 
John's Day it is said that bells can be heard to ring 
from buried towers, and the Indians are very anx- 
ious to have the debris removed that they may find 
the bells. 



194 MEXICAN VISTAS 

Oaxaca was formerly the place to find genuine 
Aztec idols, but the Indians are beginning to under- 
stand their real value, and do not offer them so 
freely as formerly. Indeed, we were told by the 
intelligent woman who made the collection pur- 
chased by the New York Museum that many of 
the Indians love these sacred amulets and idols, 
and refuse to part with them at any price. ''What?" 
exclaimed an old Indian to whom she made a 
proposition to purchase some of his treasures, "do 
you think I have no sense that I should sell my 
gods ?" Poor benighted savage ; he did not know 
that in a land, not far distant, there were people so 
anxious to get rid of their gods that they deliber- 
ately threw them away. But he will know better 
when he is civilized. 

There is a fine Cathedral in Oaxaca which has 
fallen into the hands of a so-called decorator, and 
bids fair to be ruined. One of the most interesting 
of the churches is the ancient church of San Do- 
minguey, which has a carved front and interior dec- 
orations of the most florid style. Florid decora- 
tions must, however, be expected in Mexico, and 
indeed they are suited to the people and the coun- 
try. San Dominguey was confiscated by the gov- 
ernment, and was for a time used as a barracks, and 
horses were stalled in its beautiful altars. It has, 
however, recently been returned to the Church, and 



MEXICAN VISTAS I95 

at present is undergoing the painful process of res- 
toration and redecoration. It is to be hoped that 




PRESIDENT BENITO JUAREZ. 



the fine bas-reHefs and other unique features of the 
interior will be spared. 

One of the advertised charms of these tropical 
regions is the constellation of the Southern Cross. 



196 MEXICAN VISTAS 

The tradition of the Indian watchman, who at mid- 
night cahs "The Cross begins to bend," is a pretty 
one, but if the would-be astronomer wishes to see 
the Southern Cross in Oaxaca he must rise at some 
uncanny hour between two and four o'clock in the 
morning — an hour not at all adapted to star-gazing. 
Personally I am sufficiently loyal to my own lati- 
tude to consider the constellation of Orion far more 
beautiful than the vaunted Southern Cross. 

Some of the greatest men in Mexico have been 
born in the State of Oaxaca. General Porfirio 
Diaz, the present president, was born in the little 
house on the outskirts of the town which is marked 
with a plaque. The great Juarez was a full-blooded 
Zapotec Indian. Until he was twelve years old he 
never heard a word of any language except his own 
Indian dialect. To learn the coveted Spanish 
tongue he bound himself out as a servant, and after- 
ward in order to gain an education he entered the 
priesthood. But his path broadened before his 
feet, and he was called from the cell to take up the 
burdens of his people. He became governor of his 
state, then chief justice, and finally the president of 
the republic during her stormiest days. He re- 
pelled the French invasion, shot Maximilian, and 
gave to the world notice that Mexico would submit 
to no foreign dictation. He was the Mexican 
Washington who saved his country, and who, like 



MEXICAN VISTAS I97 

Washington, started it on a career of progress. He 
was the Mexican Bismarck, who, although himself 
a good Catholic, overthrew the political power of 
the Church, and established the public schools. 
He was the Mexican Lincoln — a conqueror, yet no 
soldier; a ruler, although scorned by the aristo- 
crats ; a hero, yet a simple man of the people, who 
understood him and supported him and loved him. 
I never see his plain, dark face without a fhrill of 
the same reverent affection I feel for Lincoln, and 
I am persuaded that among the great names of the 
earth the name of Benito Juarez should stand very 
near the head. 



198 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XX. 

Again and again we made ready for our trip to 
Mitla ; again and again we rose at an untimely hour 
in the morning and sat patiently waiting for a car- 
riage that never came. In vain Ahasuerus pleaded 
and offered bribes ; in vain the friendly landlord 
argued, threatened and uttered maledictions ; not the 
least ripple was stirred on the current of Mexican 
movement. But at last, as I sat one morning forlorn- 
ly watching, a rattle as of the dead bones of a nation 
was heard afar down the street, and soon after, with 
a clatter and a jangle, four desiccated mules were 
reined up at the door. In an instant two sombrero- 
hatted figures descended, each seized a stone, and 
crawling under the carriage began vigorously to 
hammer at the crazy bolts. We, with a firm deter- 
mination to trust the bolts to Providence, climbed 
joyfully to our seats and finally persuaded the re- 
luctant coachman to drive on. At last manana was 
come and we were on our way to Mitla. 

The drive of twenty-five miles from Oaxaca co 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



199 



Mitla is not a comfortable one. In these regions 
we are only seventeen degrees north of the equator, 
further south than either Cairo or Calcutta. A 
tropical sun beats down upon the head, the air 
swims with dust, and the jolt of the cobblestone 
pavements which extend to the outermost limits of 
Oaxaca is bone-racking. 

As we advanced into the open country we found 




ON THE ROAD TO MITLA. 



the road lined with Zapotec Indians bringing their 
produce to market. The Zapotecs, although the 
degenerate descendants of a nobler ancestry, are 
nevertheless a much finer race than the Aztecs of 
the valley of Mexico. The original Zapotecs were 



200 MEXICAN VISTAS 

an arrogant people who claimed descent from the 
rocks and the lions. At the time of the coming of 
Cortes they were waging successful warfare with 
the powerful Aztecs, but they as well as their Indian 
foemen were compelled to bend to the yoke of the 
Spaniard. The graceful, veiled figure of the 
modern Zapotec woman perched between the high- 
piled panniers on the donkey's back resembles the 
pictures we see of the Jewish women of the Old 
Testament. When she walks she goes, even when 
carrying the heaviest burdens, upon a fox trot. To 
see one of these lithe figures advancing, her head 
held splendidly erect under the jar or basket, her 
garments fluttering in the wind, her willowy body 
undulating, and her bare feet scarce touching the 
ground is to see Greek art embodied. 

A few miles from Oaxaca we passed through 
Tule, which is, with its rows of mud huts, its nearly 
naked children, and its hordes of half-starved dogs, 
a typical Indian village. The little town is famous 
for its big tree, a species of cypress, which in 
diameter exceeds the far-famed California big trees. 
The half-obliterated inscription upon the trunk is 
said to have been cut by the great Humboldt. As 
we drove through the village we saw the municipal 
school gathered- in the cloisters of the church, 
studying aloud with a buzz like a hive of bees. The 
little garden plots and fields of this region are 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



201 



hedged with the organa or organ-pipe cactus which 
sometimes grows twenty feet high, and is said to 
yield deHcious fruit. 

By the advice of our big-hatted coachman, who 
seemed to exist for the purpose of shutting off the 
air and th^ view, and to speak for the purpose of 
misleading us, we stopped for luncheon at the vil- 




AN ORGANA HEDGE. 



lage of Tlacolulu. Everything was very convenient 
at Tlacolulu. The washstand, flanked by a row of 
soiled towels tastefully arranged, stood at the head 
of the table in the dining-room, so that we could 



202 MEXICAN VISTAS 

wash, eat, drink and be merry with the least pos- 
sible loss of time. There is a church in Tlacolulu 
which, according to the guide-book, is famous for 
its antiquity. I really believe that it antedates the 
towels, but it is no less ugly for that ; and the women 
sitting on a heap of sand, called by courtesy the 
market place, were pictures of sordid and unro- 
mantic misery. On the whole Tlacolulu seems to 
possess all the objectionable features of a poor Mex- 
ican Indian town with none of the picturesqueness 
which makes such a village tolerable. 

Upon our arrival in Mitla we were hospitably re- 
ceived by the dark-faced Mexican Don who is the 
fortunate proprietor of the hacienda and the Indian 
village in which are found the ruins of Mitla. The 
front of the hacienda house is used as a shop for the 
supply of the simple needs of the village. We 
passed through an arched entrance to the beautiful 
court beyond, upon whose broad corridors all the 
rooms of the house opened. An enormous bou- 
gainvillea vine draped one side of the court with a 
mantle of purple. On the opposite side of the patio 
a group of Indian women and children were indus- 
triously engaged in hulling and sorting green coffee 
beans. Apart from its beauty I shall always re- 
member this hacienda as one of the few hostelries in 
the rural districts of Mexico where we were given 
clean table linen. At Don Felix Quero's we had 



MEXICAN VISTAS 203 

not only snowy linen, but well-cooked, well-served 
meals, sweetened by the most hospitable welcome of 
the master and the mistress of the house. 

The sun's rays were level when we waded 
through the deep sand, past the thatched huts and 
the dirty stable yards, decorated with queer 
wooden-wheeled carts, to the ruins. An ignorant 
custodian led the way, endeavoring to impart in a 
villainous dialect as much misinformation" as he 
thought we could be induced to bear, while a crowd 
of persistent and pestilent Indian beggars dogged 
our footsteps. As we were conscious, however, 
that the foolish alms-giving of our own Americans 
was responsible for the latter annoyance, we en- 
dured the attacks of the pertinacious rabble with 
what grace we could. 

The ruins are more extensive than at first sight 
they seem. Many of the village huts are built upon 
the fallen walls with fragments stolen from the 
temples. In spite, however, of the work of the 
vandals, enough of Mitla remains to give a distinct 
idea of the original beauty of the edifices. Indeed, 
some of the structures are almost intact, presenting 
a style of architecture at once simple and majestic. 
Nothing in Rome thrilled me as did those solid 
windowless walls, glistening in the level rays of the 
sun. 

The walls, which are about six feet thick, are of 



204 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



small pebbles bound together with lasting cement. 
Upon this is laid a veneer of carved stone, and 
immense blocks of the same stone form the sills 
and the lintels of the doorway. Both the interior 
and the exterior of the buildings are ornamented 




A CRUMBLING WALL. 



with broad bands of the stone overlaid with stone 
mosaics cut in geometrical and fantastic patterns. 
The Toltecs, the supposed builders of Mitla, had 
no arch in their architecture ; consequently the 
doorways are all square, a style which gives one 



MEXICAN VISTAS 205 

the impression of massiveness, as, indeed, does 
every detail of the huge piles. The Hall of the 
Monoliths, which Humboldt pronounced one of the 
wonders of the new world, contains six gigantic 
stone columns without base or capital. 

One of the temples is occupied by an Indian 
family, who cook their food on a smoky brazier in 
one corner of the room, and stable their donkey 
and cow in another corner. The walls^ of this 
unique dwelling are covered with whitewash, which, 
at the command of the custodian, was in one spot 
rubbed off, revealing a glistening band of dark-red 
cement. This band, which encircles the room, is 
covered with hieroglyphics, which are crumbling 
and rapidly disappearing. Before the archeologists 
succeed in finding the key and deciphering the rec- 
ords, the records will be gone, and with them will go 
the secrets of the great temple builders. 

A flight of crumbling steps leads to the hill which 
was once crowned by the teocalli and the sacrificial 
stone of the Toltecs, where they offered to the gods 
human hearts torn from the bodies of their writhing 
victims. The proselyting Spaniards destroyed the 
temple with ;ts valuable records, and with the 
material from the ruin built upon the same spot a 
shabby church. The mutilation begun by the 
Spaniard is continued by the Mexican and the In- 
dian. A year ago a tomb containing human re- 



206 MEXICAN VISTAS 

mains was found and thriftily turned by the vil- 
lagers into a corn bin. The former custodian — an 
old priest who fully appreciated the beauty and 
value of the ruins — endeavored to protect them 
from injury. In retaliation the Indians — who con- 
sider themselves entitled to all the benefits accruing 
from the possession of so great a treasure, cut off 
his water supply, stole his fruit and chickens, and 
in other ways made his life so miserable that he was 
only too glad to resign and leave Mitla to its fate. 

It is much to be wished that the proprietor of 
Mitla would employ as custodian one who has some 
intelligent knowledge of the remains, and who 
could speak some other language than the half- 
Indian, half-Spanish dialect of the present caretaker. 
When the old man discovered that we could not 
comprehend his jargon, he inquired rather super- 
ciliously if we spoke French ; but upon hearing our 
delighted affirmative, his enthusiasm waned, and I 
found that his French vocabulary consisted of "Oui, 
Madame," and ''Non, Madame." 

It is nov/ conceded by archeologists that Mitla 
was the seat of the hierarchy and the burial place of 
the kings. The people who built, these massive 
piles, cut the huge stones, and carved the mosaics 
must have been of a high type of civilization. When 
Cortes came to Mexico he found in the country no 
beasts of burden. The quarries, from which the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



207 



stones used in the construction of the temples of 
Mitla doubtless came, are five miles away. How did 
men, by their own unassisted efforts, raise these 
huge stones and transport them a distance of five 
miles? Surely not enough men to lift one of the 
blocks could find place around it. The ancient 




SPECIMENS OF MOSAIC, 



builders, then, must have possessed some machinery 
for lifting heavy weights, the knowledge of whose 
construction might be valuable even to us. We of 
these golden days, when confronted by the mys- 
teries of past civilizations, may well doubt if we are 



208 MEXICAN VISTAS 

really the heirs of all the ages. There may be 
hidden codicils which, if ever discovered, will prove 
to us that we have not yet inherited all the wisdom 
of the centuries. 

We ate our supper in the little dining-room look- 
ing out into the darkening court. The maidens of 
the household came, with their gracefully poised 
water jars, to the fountain, and a troop of horses 
plunged through the arched entrance and curveted 
across the court to get their evening drink. One 
by one the swinging lamps blazed out along the 
garlanded porch ; the children's evening hymn 
floated up from the little shrine at the end of the 
corrider, and from the servants' quarters across the 
court arose the sweet strains of the Ave Maria. 
We sat among the blossoms until the moon rode 
high in the heavens and the stars stooped almost to 
the touch of our fingers. Then we went into the 
thick-walled, barred-windowed cells which served 
as sleeping rooms, and throwing ourselves upon the 
hard pallets, slept until morning. I vv^as awakened 
by a gentle neigh, and opening my eyes I saw an 
inquiring pony and a velvet-nosed donkey gazing 
timidly and curiously through the grating upon my 
slumbers. I arose, caressed my gentle visitors, and 
went blithely out into an ungrateful world, which 
has blotted out the memory and trodden down the 
handiwork of the ancient builders. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 2O9 



CHAPTER XXL 

The impressions of a traveler are not always relia- 
ble, but for those journeying as we journeyed, often 
the only English-speaking people on the train, stay- 
ing at Mexican hotels, riding on Mexican street 
cars, and in all ways affiliating with the native 
population, there are opportunities for hearing both 
sides of vexed questions that escape the hasty tour- 
ist or one who journeys in his private car. Then, 
too, as I was generally the only woman in sight, I 
personally received a great deal of courteous and 
kindly information from members of the superior 
sex, who, whatever their nationality, were always 
willing to enlighten my ignorance according to the 
most improved kindergarten methods. We also 
talked much with railroad men — conductors, ticket 
agents and engineers — who, in the dearth of respon- 
sible native workmen and officials, are sent from 
the United States to Mexico. These men are gen- 
erally wan-eyed and baldheaded, having lost their 
hair in the fever, and most of them are homesick 



210 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and dissatisfied. Above all things they fear the 
fever, and they warned us against everything; 
against the water, against the night air, and par- 
ticularly against the fruit. Fever, however, is not 
the worst thing to be feared in Mexico, for we en- 
countered both malignant diphtheria and smallpox. 
Indeed, judging from the scarred and seamed faces 
seen on all sides, smallpox is the universal heritage, 
and vaccination unknown in the republic. 

Begging is another form of virulent disease that 
afflicts Mexico, but we were told that Americans 
are largely responsible for this malady. When an 
excursion party is expected, the thrifty Mexican 
mothers clothe their children in rags and send them 
to the train. The tender-hearted Americans, moved 
by the pitiful sight, shower pennies upon the poor 
innocents, and the Mexican families live for weeks 
in comfort upon the money thus gained. This 
spread of pauperism by indiscriminate alms-giving 
is a theme for meditation, for if it be really true that 
we Americans are offenders in this respect, we may 
be sure that, sooner or later, we shall be compelled 
to pay the penalty of our thoughtlessness. 

During our return trip from Oaxaca I had a 
chance to study the methods of a "general promoter 
of industries" and other schemes, who spoke as one 
having authority, and who was particularly eulo- 
gistic of the Mexicans. As he had the appearance 



MEXICAN VISTAS 211 

of not having bathed for several years I thought 
that some parts of La Repubhca were specially 
adapted to his needs. He did not, however, agree 
w^ith us hi our high estimate of the southern Indian. 
''I tell you," he said, ''one of them northern Indians 
at Chihuahua is wuth a dozen of them southern fel- 
lows. Jest give 'em plenty of pulque, and corn- 
meal, and a cigar or so, and they'll work like a 
mule ; they'll work till they drop." From die point 
of view of the "general promoter," the northern 
Indian is certainly the better man. 

The consensus of opinion seems to be that the 
Mexicans, whether of the north or of the south, 
have little mechanical ingenuity, and that they can- 
not be trusted to care for machinery. The Spanish 
lack of caution which ruined the engines of Cer- 
vera's fleet is also characteristic of the half-breed 
Mexican. A strike on one of the railways last win- 
ter, which compelled the road to employ Mexican 
engineers, resulted in the burning out of most of 
the engines, and the general demoralization of the 
rolling stock. This lack of trustworthiness is ap- 
parent in all grades of railway service. One of the 
first things we noticed upon our arrival in Mexico 
was the fact that the switchman always stood with 
one foot on the switch until the train had passed. 
We learned afterward that, as the Mexican cannot 
be trusted to set a switch and lock it, he is com- 



212 MEXICAN VISTAS 

pelled by law to stand with his foot upon the bar; 
for only the certainty that in case of an accident he 
will be the first one killed, has the power to make 
a native switchman responsible. 

Nor is this lack of reliability confined to the lower 
classes, for, I am sorry to say, the American, Eng- 
lish and German mine-owners and capitalists whom, 
we met, made the same complaint of Mexican busi- 
ness men. So far as their integrity is concerned 
we personally, with the exception of our experience 
with the Vera Cruzans, who, like the people of most 
seaport towns, are a shifting and a shifty popula- 
tion — found no one disposed to deal dishonestly 
with us ; indeed we suffered less imposition than we 
should be liable to meet on a similar trip in our own 
country. It is evident, however, that the average 
Mexican cannot keep an appointment — a weakness 
imputed to the Spanish race everywhere. Some 
American capitalists whom we met in Aguas 
Calientes told us that they had been waiting in town 
since Monday (it was then Thursday) for a Mexican 
mine-owner with whom they had a business ap- 
pointment. 

The return journey from Puebla to the City of 
Mexico carries us past Cholulu, thence onward near 
the foot of the volcanoes, and by a tramway from 
the station of Santa Ana, to the ancient republic of 
Tlaxcala, whose inhabitants Cortes secured as allies 



MEXICAN VISTAS 21 3 

in his conflict with the Aztecs. Of these Tlaxcal- 
ans, then numbering over 300,000 souls, whose 
valor in battle so impressed Cortes that he hastened 
to make friends with them, only about 4,000 remain. 
The old town, which was built in an amphitheater, 
in the foothills, is one of the notable places 
in Mexico. In the ancient church of San Fran- 
cisco, built in 1 52 1, is still preserved the oldest 
pulpit in America, and in the Casa Municipale is the 
original grant of arms given to the Tlaxcalans by 
Charles V., the standard given to the Tlaxcalan 
chiefs by Cortes, and the robes in which the chiefs 
were baptized. 

At San Martin we begin to climb the mountains, 
and at Naucamilca we reach the highest point, 9,000 
feet above the sea. These high regions are one 
vast field of waving grain, and white-walled 
haciendas dot the landscape. At the lower eleva- 
tion of 6,000 feet we find ourselves once more 
among the green spikes of the maguey, and see and 
smell on all sides the yeasty liquor. Nearing the 
Capital we pass the Pyramids of the Sun and the 
Moon, and whirl along the low banks of Lake 
Texcoco. At Chapingo is one of the finest haciendas 
in Mexico, the property of the heirs of President 
Gonzales, the one-armed patriot and boodler who 
preceded Diaz. Beyond Chapingo we enter a long 
avenue of mighty trees, through whose drooping 



214 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



branches the city Hghts begin to glimmer. The 
gHmmer Hvens to a glow, and at last in a dazzle of 
electric lamps we enter the St. Lazare station. 
Once more we feel ourselves a part of the civiliza- 
tion of the nineteenth century, and as we sink back 
on the comfortable cushions of the carriage we are 



k 




THE BURDEN BEARERS. 



glad to forget for a time Cortes, the Aztecs, Quet- 
zalcoatl, and all the other dead and gone gods and 
heroes. We eat our well-cooked dinner in a modern 
French restaurant, and we wipe our mouths, and we 



MEXICAN VISTAS 21 



say ''ah-ha," for we feel in every fiber of our beings 
that we are the children of steam and electricity, 
daily newspapers, and modern cooking and service. 



2l6 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXIL 

We left the Capital one bright morning in March 
by the daybreak train on the Mexican National 
R. R. and journeyed eastward one hundred and 
twenty-five miles, as far as the station of San 
Marcos. Here we left the train and sat for five 
wretched hours in a miserable little station house, 
while the deaf, the halt, the blind, the horribly dis- 
figured, strolling peddlers and curiosity seekers 
came to gaze upon the Americanos. At the sight 
of the misery around me it really seemed that I 
owed heaven and humanity some apology for phys- 
ical and mental vigor, and for all my worldly com- 
forts. Nevertheless these pious reflections did not 
prevent a feeling of sickness when in the midst of 
these unappetizing surroundings I tried to swallow 
my lunch. Ahasuerus went out and bought a bottle 
of Spanish wine to complete the meal. The mem- 
ory of that acid drink still sets my teeth on edge 
and chills the blood in my veins, but the starving 



MEXICAN VISTAS 217 

creatures to whom we gave it, with the remains of 
the hmch, swallowed it with a heart-breaking 
avidity. It is difficult for an American accustomed 
to the abundance of his own land to realize that in 
our neighboring republic many people annually die 
of starvation. 

The train on the branch road which leads to the 
foot of the mountains started about the middle of 
the day. We found the first-class cars had 
cushioned seats along each side and in dimensions 
and comfort much resembled a small American- 
omnibus. We were fortunate enough to have 
two very interesting traveling companions, one a 
sprightly young Mexican in the early twenties, the 
other a magnificently handsome Spaniard of about 
forty-five. The Mexican wore the skin-tight jacket 
and trousers of the gay young native who fondly 
imagines he is wearing "American clothes." The 
Spaniard was attired in a suit of Mexican cut, made 
of silver-gray broadcloth and ornamented with an 
infinity of silver buttons, chains and loops. Upon 
his head was a high sombrero of gray fur-felt, bear- 
ing upon the front a monogram in silver, and upon 
his feet were gaiters of gray ooze leather. The 
costume was admirably calculated to set ofif his dark 
beauty, and I have never seen, outside of a frame, a 
more glorious picture than this Spaniard. Like 
many very handsome men, he seemed entirely un- 



2l8 MEXICAN VISTAS 

conscious of his charms, but gave his mind to the 
admiring and reflective contemplation of some 
specimens of ore which he drew from a silver- 
decked pouch at his side. 

We soon discovered that both men were mine 
owners, who naturally believed that they had a for- 
tune in their mines. They were disposed to be very 
friendly, and we were soon included in their stately 
and courteous conversation. As our knowledge of 
the Spanish tongue did not extend beyond the 
words and phrases necessary for our daily travel 
and needs, we were somewhat bewildered at the 
jargon of ''ores," "assays," and other mining terms. 
We endeavored, however, to look as intelligent as 
possible, smiled, beamed with our best American 
beam, and murmured intermittently "Si, Sehor," 
and I'm sure I hope we said it in the right place. 

We reached our destination — a little Indian vil- 
lage — after dark. Tired and hungry, we welcomed 
the feebly burning lights of the tiny hamlet, and, 
forgetting for the moment that we were in Mexico, 
Ahasuerus demanded of the conductor the way to 
the nearest hotel. It was an unfortunate slip of the 
tongue, and when the conductor, who for a wonder 
understood him, pointed to a miserable fonda not 
far from the station, the naked truth was too bitter 
for us. I fancied that I saw a bit of mockery in the 
smile with which the Spaniard said, "The Sefiora 



LIBRARY. 



^ ^f A N T ^. 



H\ 



MEXICAN VISTAS 2ig 

likes not the hotel? — so?" — a fancy which nerved 
me to walk up to the wretched place with an air of 
placidity, although at each step my heart sank 
lower and lower. The inn, which was of two 
stories, was a crazy building leaning to the wind in 
a perilous manner. The lower floor was of dirt 
and the upper one of loose boards. Along the 
upper balcony were strung lines of bloody sheep- 
skins, sickening alike to the eyes and to the nostrils. 
An Indian woman, the mistress of the house, and 
too evidently the mistress of its Spanish master, 
conducted us up the shaking stairway to a room 
containing two beds ; one for Ahasuerus and myself, 
the other for our traveling companion, the young 
Mexican. ''Well," said that worm Ahasuerus, 
turning upon me as soon as we were left alone, 
"you are fond of romantic adventures and pictur- 
esque scrapes. How do you like this?" 

He soon strolled off, grumbling, and left me with 
my handkerchief to my nose and despair in my 
heart, ensconced in one corner of the porch behind 
the gory sheepskins. From my nook I overheard a 
discussion between the Indian landlady and our 
fellow-travelers. "But," argued the young Mex- 
ican, "the seiiora does not like it ; it is not the cus- 
tom of her country." The woman, who spoke an 
Indian dialect unintelligible to me, was evidently 
impervious to the seilora's likes and dislikes, for 



220 MEXICAN VISTAS 

neither man seemed to affect her decision. I soon 
withdrew, and I knew the resuh of the discussion 
only from what foUowed. When we went to bed 
we left the candle burning and the door open for our 
roommate, but when we woke in the morning we 
found that he had not been in. On my way to 
breakfast, as I passed a large room, I recognized 
among the rugs and blankets strewn over the floor 
the Mexican's portmanteau, and I realized the fact 
that rather than annoy us he had slept with the 
rougher guests of the fonda upon the dirty floor. 

When the pangs of hunger overcame us we went, 
one at a time, lest we should carry down the crazy 
stairway, to look for dinner. We entered a large 
room with a dirt floor, which was filled with the 
smoke of braziers. At one end of the room was 
a long table, covered with a coffee-stained cloth, at 
which sat seven or eight evil-faced, bandit-looking 
men, who, in spite of their unprepossessing appear- 
ance, rose courteously upon our entrance to salute 
us. Across the other end of the room was a stone 
table in which were inserted the barred braziers 
upon which the dinner was cooking. The coals 
and cinders continually dropped between the bars 
of the braziers upon the dirt floor, to the peril of a 
troop of ragged, unkempt children, the offspring of 
the Indian woman and her Spanish master, who 
stood lowering in the doorway, as ugly a specimen 



MEXICAN VISTAS 221 

of brutal humanity as I ever looked upon. A stone 
bench upon which the woman — a tiny creature — 
climbed to reach the steaming kettles, was in front 
of the range. The heavy vessels were unbearable 
weights in the woman's feeble hands, and she 
stumbled awkwardly up and down the bench, to the 
disgust of her lord, who continually cursed her. 
Around the table were stone benches upon which 
we, with the other guests, seated ourselves. Some 
hungry kittens, two half-starved dogs and a brood 
of piping chickens disputed with us the possession 
of this seat. 

I have eaten worse meals, even in the United 
States, than this dinner in the Mexican fonda. 
There was no drinking water, but, as usual in such 
inns, a large bottle of pulque was placed before each 
cover. The soup course was really delicious, the 
omelet good and the frijoles appetizing, so that we 
were enabled to make a bountiful meal. It is true 
that the time between courses was rather long, but 
the guests showed the most exemplary patience, and 
evinced their friendly interest by offering advice or 
suggestions to the tiny cook, and they seemed to 
like the food no less that they had a hand in its 
preparation. 

Our traveling companions, who had in the mean- 
time joined us, in deference to our American prej- 
udices removed their hats ; but the other men sat. 



222 MEXICAN VISTAS 

silent and haughty, under the shadow of their great 
sombreros. The Hght from a smoky lantern upon 
the wall fell upon the heads and the gloomy shad- 
owed faces of the diners, and I was reminded of a 
gypsy scene in an opera. The only thing lacking 
to the theatrical effect of the whole was the orches- 
tral accompaniment. In spite of the picturesque- 
ness of the scene, however, I must confess that I 
could not repress a thrill of fear at noticing that 
Ahasuerus was the only unarmed man in the com- 
pany. The other guests carried heavy pistols 
swinging from their cartridge belts, and the ring of 
their revolvers upon the stone benches formed a 
martial accompaniment to the jingle of spurs that 
gave me an uncomfortable impression of being 
among the bandits ; an impression which the fierce 
faces of the Mexican caballeros in no way belied. 
I lay down that night, for the only time in Mexico, 
with a feeling of uneasiness ; but the sole disturbers 
of our peace were the chickens, pigs, donkeys and 
horses beneath us, whose high-keyed chorus 
ascended through the wide cracks of the rough 
floor. 

Our awakening was cheered by the appearance of 
our friend and expectant host, who reported the 
coming of a horse for Ahasuerus, and a band of 
Indian chairmen to carry me over the mountains. 
They had, he assured us, started early in the night 



MEXICAN VISTAS 223 

and would soon arrive ; so we hastily dispatched our 
rolls and coffee, and sat us patiently down to await 
the burden-bearers. One by one the swarthy 
guests of the fonda departed; our traveling com- 




ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS. 



panions, with many "addios" and graceful saluta- 
tions, jingled off to their mines, and still the In- 
dians did not come. It was nearly noon when they 
finally appeared with the chariot which was to 
transport me to higher regions. This chariot was 
a high-backed wooden chair with a broad foot rest, 



224 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and a white cotton canopy overhead which could be 
drawn over the face or thrown back. 

I seated myself in the chair, the Indian porter 
knelt, placed one of the two bands around his fore- 
head, and the other around his shoulders, rose 
slowly like a camel and trotted ofif with me. The 
motion was delightful — much like the easy canter of 
a pony — and many a sly nap I took under my white 
canopy as the day wore on. There were four chair- 
men who relieved one another at stated intervals. 
They were all strong, robust Indians accustomed to 
burdens of at least two hundred and fifty pounds, 
so that my conscience did not too much reprove me, 
although I must confess that I had all the time the 
feeling that I was making of a human soul a beast 
of burden. The beasts of burden, however, bore 
their load cheerfully; for the first one carried me, 
in spite of my protests, straight up the mountain 
five miles without stopping. Besides our Indian 
retainers we were accompanied by our host's mozo, 
or private servant, and three gaunt Indian dogs who 
serenely trod the path of glory, giving triumphant 
battle to all the other dogs in the various Indian vil- 
lages through which we passed. 

We traveled during the day over three mountain 
ranges. Up and down the steep declivities, skirt- 
ing the narrow benches, threading the rocky 
ravines, and descending green valleys in whose 



MEXICAN VISTAS 225 

verdant depths were hidden Indian villages, went 
the sure-footed mountain horses, and my bearers 
traveled close upon their heels. We often ex- 
changed greetings with the dignified Aztecs, 
ploughing in the green fields and upon the rocky 
slopes, fishing in the tumbling streams, or gathered 
around the adobe schoolhouses and the tiny cross- 
crowned churches, and we always received from 
these humble, native sefiors a courteous, if a curi- 
ous, salutation. 

The sun was setting as we wound slowly down 
the mountain trail into the little Indian village 
nestling at the foot of the third range. The men 
working in the fields and the women washing at the 
fountain turned to look at us, while a graceful girl, 
who was driving a flock of black goats, in her aston- 
ishment allowed a little jet-faced kid to escape and 
to run, crying like a baby, after us. One of the 
Indian guides seized the little creature and turned 
its head in the opposite direction, whereupon it fled, 
wailing, back to its mother. The whole scene was 
one of pastoral innocence, and with sighs of happy 
content we pressed onward, down the verdant valley 
to the spot where the home of our host — the only 
white man in the village — nestled among the trees 
beside the tiny mission church and schoolhouse. 

We had scarcely removed from our clothing the 
dust of travel, when we were told that visitors were 



226 MEXICAN VISTAS 

waiting to see us. We descended and were greeted 
by the head man of the viUage — a courteous 
and intelHgent Indian — and the master of the 
municipal school. They had come to bid us wel- 








DESCENT INTO THE VALLEY. 

come to their town, and to offer their services for 
our entertainment. Although the Aztec was their 
native tongue they spoke Spanish musically and 
fluently. The schoolmaster had not at all the 
physique of the Indian. His face was round, his 
eyes were sparkling, and he had altogether the air 



MEXICAN VISTAS 227 

of a fat, jolly negro. Both men wore the American 
dress ; that is to say they both wore coats and trous- 
ers, although hardly of the American cut. Their 
heads were covered with the straw sombrero so 
universally worn by the Indians. 

The village, which numbers about 1,500 souls, is 
hidden away in this lost corner of the earth, where 
the ancestors of the people took refuge from the 
fury of Cortes. Three centuries later, upon the 
coming of Maximilian, the tribe burned their vil- 
lages and hid in the mountain fastnesses, so that 
they have a perfect right to proclaim themselves an 
unconquered people whose adherence to the Mexi- 
can republic is entirely voluntary. They certainly 
have all the physical traits of an unconquered race 
and are the tallest and finest Indians we saw in 
Mexico. Unlike other tribes, they all own their 
little farms, which they cultivate, by means of 
crooked sticks and placid, thick-necked oxen, to the 
very summit of the mountains. Although cour- 
teous and affable to strangers, they are at enmity 
with all the Indian villages further down the moun- 
tain, whose inhabitants profess the Catholic faith — 
the hated faith of the Spaniard. A handful of the 
tribe has been gathered into the Protestant mission, 
but the majority are without religion. 

They keep many of their old customs in this far- 
away corner of the world. The women still spin 



228 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



with distaffs and weave with curious handlooms. 
Doubtless their untroubled lives, as well as the 
mountain air, contribute to their longevity; cer- 
tainly we saw many very old people. The dress 
of the men consists of the usual straw sombrero. 




AZTEC LOOM — FOUR GENERATIONS. 



wide linen trousers, and a linen shirt, reaching half- 
way to the' knees girded around the waist by a 
bright scarf. The women wear skirts and chemises 
whose low cut reveals beautiful shoulders gener- 
ally ornamented with curious bead necklaces, 
and they have no head covering except the rebosa 
and their dark tresses. Neither sex wears shoes, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 229 

and both men and women possess slender, high- 
arched feet which are, in spite of the usual coating 
of dust, of wonderful beauty. A curious custom 
prevails among the men and boys of wearing one 
trouser leg rolled almost to the thigh, revealing a 
slender, shining limb. When questioned as to the 
reason for this, they could only answer: "It is the 
fashion" — an answer that proves the mountain 
Indian to be on the highway to civilization. The 
houses of the village, which are of mud or adobe, 
stuccoed, and painted some bright tint, stand in the 
midst of neat gardens, the streets are well kept, the 
children clean and pretty, and the people themselves 
are industrious and contented. 



230 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

The morning after our arrival in the village we 
went with our host to the Sunday services held in 
the little adobe church, which during the week- 
serves him also for a schoolhouse. Our friend — a 
graceful and fluent speaker — preached to the little 
flock in Spanish ; although, as many of the people 
know only the Aztec, the services of an interpreter 
are often called into requisition. The congregation 
seemed teachable and intelligent, and we noticed 
many handsome faces among the women. We 
were exceedingly interested in the school which we 
visited next day. There were ninety scholars — a 
fine beginning for a school so recently established. 
The school and the mission, which are supported 
by the Methodist Church, are under the supervision 
of our friend and host. 

The dream of this good man is the establishment 
of an industrial school and farm for the training of 
these mountain Indians. The Jefe Politico, or 




UORELOS—pa^^e 248, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 23 1 

head man of the district — a man of wealth and 
cultivation — sympathizes with him in his ambition, 
and will doubtless give him practical aid. The 
high-class Mexicans are mostly Protestants, or 
rather protesters against the Romish Church, and 
this prejudice against Catholicism extends to the 
Indians of the entire district ; so that in a population 
of 29,000 souls there are but three priests, and these 
are by no means welcome. How far this sentiment 
against the faith of the Spaniards will carry the 
mountaineers remains to be seen; but certainly at 
present there seems to be a decided inclination to 
affiliate with the Protestant church, and to lend to 
our friend a helping hand in his work. This senti- 
ment was most kindly shown on the occasion of the 
baptism of the missionary's baby boy. The Jefe 
Politico of the district, who with his wife acted as 
godparents to the little American, came, accom- 
panied by two Indian orchestras, thirty miles over a 
rough and dangerous mountain road, to the cere- 
mony. The wife, who was not able to come, in 
accordance with Mexican customs sent her sister to 
represent her, and to bring the christening offering 
of a cloak and hood for the little one. One hun- 
dred and fifty guests were present, and the festivities 
lasted three days. The pretty baby received from 
his friend, the Jefe Politico, a copy of a Spanish 
Testament around which were knotted the Mexican 



232 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and American flags fastened together with clasped 
silver hands. 

We went one day upon the invitation of the 
schoolmaster to visit the municipal school. This is 
one of the schools which the paternal policy of the 
Mexican government has established in every- town 
and village of the republic. When we presented 
ourselves at the schoolhouse, the scholars were en- 
joying their recess upon the shaded playgrounds. 
We were received with the most graceful and gra- 
cious hospitality by the schoolmaster, who wore 
ragged trousers and a soiled shirt, through whose 
torn sleeves his mighty arms shone like polished 
bronze. His massive head, with its close-cropped, 
clustering locks, was poised upon his columnar 
neck, with that combination of strength and free- 
dom that we see in the statues of the Greek gods. 
This simple Indian, who knew nothing of the world 
beyond his mountains, except what he had learned 
from books, was an impressive and a majestic 
figure. 

The walls of the schoolroom were hung with 
French plates, geometrical, mechanical, physiolog- 
ical and scientific. Pictures of the birds, beasts, 
flowers, shells and insects of all lands were there, as 
well as those of the organs of the human body, 
designs of modern machinery, lithographs of 
domestic and prehistoric animals, mountain ranges. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 233 

river courses, and portraits of famous men. The 
collection was a picture book on a magnificent scale 
for the fortunate children. 

We were taken first to a little room set apart for 
manual work. Here the clay molding, the wood 
carving, and the paper cutting filled us with aston- 
ishment. We went next to the garden where the 
children playing under the trees greeted us courte- 
ously, and withdrew to a distance that they might 
not seem to listen to our conversation. This 
school also numbered about ninety scholars, all 
intelligent and vivacious. Playing quietly and 
modestly among the others was the great grandson 
of a famous Mexican general who had served with 
distinguished honor in the armies of the republic. 
This little scion of a noble house was a pretty five- 
year-old boy, with a bright manly face. Around 
the garden were rows of blooming flower-beds 
cared for by the children, who were each given a 
garden plot to cultivate, and thus learned to asso- 
ciate with the school curriculum that expert knowl- 
edge of agriculture which will in the future be so 
important an interest to them. 

When we returned to the schoolhouse the master 
blew upon a whistle, and seating himself at a melan- 
choly, wheezing melodeon, played a spirited march. 
The children entered in a procession, clapping their 
hands together to mark the time, and after various 



234 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



evolutions and some creditable singing, took their 
places at their desks, after which the regular routine 
of the schoolroom went on, while we sat by and 
marveled. A class in drawing copied the figures on 
the walls, and drew the chair and inkstand, which 
the master placed for the purpose in different posi- 




WM>' 



THE MISSION CHURCH. 



tions. The work was naturally of various degrees 
of excellence, but none of it was absolutely poor. 

A class of beginners in geography was called up. 
Each of the children — aged from eight to ten years 
— was asked to give the number of his house (every 



MEXICAN VISTAS 235 

house on every crossroad in ^Mexico is numbered), 
then the name of the street on which he hved, and 
the name of the municipahty. ''Who are the offi- 
cers of the municipahty?'' was the next question, 
and then "What are the duties of those officers?" 
The duties of the municipal officers as defined by 
the children are first, to provide water; then make 
roads ; furnish street lamps, afterward build bridges, 
and keep the streets clean. No mention whatever 
was made of sewers, for the Mexicans have not yet 
learned the necessity for them. From the munic- 
ipality the children were led on to the district in 
which they lived, its officers and their duties, and 
finally to the officers of the republic. "In time," 
said the teacher, "they will make excursions into 
other countries, thus learning geography, history 
and national law from the starting point of their 
own front doors. My methods of teaching in all 
branches," continued the schoolmaster, entirely un- 
conscious of our ill-concealed amazement, "are 
Socratic. I never tell a child a truth ; I let him find 
it out for himself. Wlien his premises are wrong 
I question him until he sees where his argument 
leads him." Please bear in mind that this man was 
an Indian — one of the race we are accustomed to 
call savages. 

It is also well to remember that the children, until 
the age of six years, had heard and spoken the 



236 MEXICAN VISTAS 

Aztec tongue only, and that knowledge came to 
them through the medium of the acquired Spanish 
language. Yet the geography class showed an 
intelligent interest in the duties and responsibilities 
of official life that augurs well for the wisdom of the 
future aldermen and governors of Mexico. 

The writing class, composed of twelve-year-old 
boys and girls, wrote at the dictation of our host, a 
rapid script, as clear as engraving. One of the 
boys, at the dictation of the master, wrote the fol- 
lowing sentence in Spanish upon his slate, and pre- 
sented the slate to me. "We are glad to have the 
Americans come among us and bring the refining 
influences of civilization." I blushed, as I read the 
kindly sentiment, remem.bering some of the influ- 
ences of civilization brought by my people to his 
race further north. 

The schoolmaster listened to our encomiums with 
an air of modest doubt. "If I could only go to your 
country," he said wistfully, in his rich Spanish — 
"but I never shall ; so I must work it out myself." 
As we went down the street, we looked back, and 
saw him standing thoughtfully in the doorway — a 
grand figure in his shabby garments — and I 
thought of the many Americans I had known to 
whom years of college and foreign university life 
had not given that discipline of the intellect, that 
real education which had been acquired by this poor 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



237 



Indian "working it out" in his lonely home on the 
distant mountain. 

The time came all too soon when we were obliged 
to leave this peaceful valley. At the time of our 
departure we had another experience of the pro- 
crastinating policy of the Mexicans. The head 




DECENT FONDA.' 



man of the village, who was deputed to engage the 
chairmen for our trip down the mountains, had 
done nothing in the matter, and as we were not 
disposed to wait for his slow bargaining, I made 
the descent on horseback. If the ascent had been 
hard on the Indian bearers, the descent was hard 



238 MEXICAN VISTAS 

on me, for the combination of comfortless Mexican 
saddle and constant downward pitch reduced me, 
mentally as well as physically, to a jelly-like con- 
sistency. The night overtook us long before we 
reached the plains, and we rode in the dark, seem- 
ingly for endless hours, along the edge of a bottom- 
less abyss, while the mountain whip-poor-will made 
mournful music to our misery. When we, at last, 
arrived before the door of the decent little fonda, 
which our host had recommended to us, I slipped, a 
boneless mass, from the saddle and bewailed my 
fate. But everybody was very good to me ; the 
horses and the donkeys rubbed their velvet noses 
sympathizingly against my face, the Indian dogs 
rallied to my support, and the Indian woman of the 
fonda stayed me with flagons and comforted me 
with apples — in other words, she brought to my 
room a cup of varnisn-like coffee and a crust of 
hard bread, and I slept as sweetly upon my wooden 
pallet as if it had been a bed of down. 

We had upon our journey to San Marcos the 
next morning some fellow-passengers who were 
very different from our former traveling compan- 
ions. The youngest member of this party of four 
had a face like that of one of Raphael's young 
saints. From their conversation we learned that 
the men were cock-fighters returning from a 
professional trip in the mountains. They drank 



MEXICAN VISTAS 239 

whisky incessantly — not at all a common custom 
among the Mexicans — and their conversation and 
manner showed the greatest depravity. I grieve to 
say that the saintly faced young fellow was the most 
reckless of the company. One cannot always judge 
the flavor of an apple from the color of its skin. 



240 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

We looked our last upon the Capital one hot 
afternoon and climbed the mountains in the trail of 
the old brigands, to where Toluca sits in the shadow 
of her dead volcano. Along the road were caves 
hollowed in the mountain sides to which the In- 
dians, during the rainy season, retreat from the 
inundations in the valley below. Above our heads 
towered Monte Cruces, or the Mount of Crosses, 
so called from the numerous headstones on the 
summit which mark the graves of the bandits and 
their victims. At our feet danced the Lerma River, 
and far off down the valley glowed the windows of 
the little villages reflecting the light of the setting 
sun. The views on this route are wondrously 
beautiful, and it was with regret that we saw the 
sun dip below the horizon. But Toluca had no 
need of the sun to lighten it, for electricity did the 
work perfectly. I doubt if there is a better lighted 
city in the United States. The government build- 
ings are the finest in the republic, the zocalo and the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



241 



market place are worthy of attention, the portales 
are wide and spotless, the streets are clean, and, 
best of all, the air that sweeps through them is fresh 
and sweet. In fact Toluca needs only a comfort- 
able hotel to make it in the eyes of travelers one 
of the very best of Mexican cities. 
The City of Mexico is the capital of the Republic, 




A MOUNTAIN HOME. 



but Toluca is the capital of the State of Mexico. 
The latter city, although really very ancient, is, in 
many ways, more modern than the former, which 
takes on nineteenth century methods slowly and 
sullenly. Toluca, on the contrary, has an air of 
wide-awake progressiveness which I hope is not 



242 MEXICAN VISTAS 

deceptive ; at all events as a proof of her early enter- 
prise she shows, in one of her chapels, a shabby 
little organ said to have been the first organ 
ever built in America. It is true that her people 
still cling to a miraculous and horrible image of the 
Virgin painted on unnecessarily coarse cloth, to the 
bull-ring and to many of their old traditions, but 
electric lights, ready-made clothing, free schools 
and a brewery, if not all civilizing, are wonderfully 
Americanizing institutions, and Toluca has all 
these. Above the city rises more than 15,000 feet 
the extinct volcano Nevado, which can be ascended 
by the traveler. The trip takes about two days. 
The crater is a bottomless pit of water with a whirl- 
pool and other attendant horrors. 

We were roused from our slumbers one chilly 
midnight to follow the camcrista through the 
brightly lighted portalcs of the sleeping town to the 
street car. Here we sat in somnolent state for 
more than half an hour, while belated citizens and 
policemen bearing dimly burning lanterns through 
the illuminated streets, came to gaze upon us. In 
the eyes of these night prowlers, all heavily armed, 
we, with our harmless equipment of handbags and 
umbrella straps, must have seemed like a delegation 
from the peace party. Fortunately the delegation 
feared nothing from the warlike demonstrations 
around them, for human life is sacred in Mexico, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 243 

where the government considers itself responsible 
for the protection of strangers. We knew that not 
long before the Mexican republic had paid in dam- 
ages a heavy sum to the family of an American who 
had been murdered by a native, and we were sure 
that not one of the dashing young swash-bucklers 
of Toluca would dare use his silver-decked revolver 
except in an extremity. The life of the poorest 
peon is as carefully guarded as that of an official, a 
fact which proves that at the core Mexico, in spite 
of its one-man dynasty, is more truly republican 
than we are. 

After a weary wait in the darkness, a yawning 
driver, wrapped in a serape and buried under a 
sombrero, made his appearance, and the mules gal- 
loped on their way. There was another long wait 
at the station, and when the train finally came along 
we found that the section on the Pullman which we 
had bought and paid for two days before had been 
sold again. Fortunately the sleeper was not 
crowded, so we had no difficulty in obtaining other 
quarters. I merely mention the fact as an example 
of Mexican business methods 

We were awakened at daybreak to eat a most 
unsatisfactory breakfast at Acambaro, whence we 
proceeded sleepily on our way toward Alorelia. As 
usual in Mexico the chilly night was succeeded by a 
broiling day, and all the charms of the scenery could 



244 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



not allay our discomfort. Nevertheless there are 
many things on the route between Acambaro and 
Morelia to interest the tourist. Lake Cuitseo, with 
its green shade trees, and the mountainous islands 
rising from its shining breast, is forty miles long 
and ten miles wide. Its banks are the home of 




THE AQUEDUCT, MORELIA. 



innumerable water fowl, and its rocky islands are 
inhabited by fishermen who live in a little world of 
their own and subsist upon the fish caught in the 
lake. The shores are, for the most part, salt 
marshes, from whose sedges rises the smoke of 



MEXICAN VISTAS 245 

numerous hot springs. Around the famous springs 
at the foot of the lake are erected crosses, marks of 
gratitude from the sufferers who have found heaUng 
in the waters. For some distance before reaching 
Moreha the track runs beside a tree-bordered 
stream. In the shade, waiting for their newly 
washed clothing to dry, sat men, women and chil- 
dren as naked as bronze statues. 

Morelia is another beautiful Mexican city, clean, 
shining, and with few beggars. We were housed 
in the Hotel Osguerra, a mansion which was built, 
to the displeasure of the Morelians, by an extrav- 
agant bishop for a private residence. Like many 
other mansions, it became such a burden to the 
purse and the conscience of the ecclesiastic that he 
was only too glad to turn it into a hospital, and give 
it to the church, and later, with a thrifty desire for 
a paying investment of the ecclesiastical funds, the 
holy possessor turned the building into a hotel. 
Opposite the balcony of the stately rooms assigned 
to us was the flower-mantled zocalo, and above its 
riotous luxuriance of vegetation rose the stately 
domes of the Cathedral. In the center of the zocalo 
is a monument to the memory of those heroes who 
have aided Mexico in her struggle for freedom. As 
for the Cathedral it is the old story — scaffolding, 
lime-dust, decorators, vandals. 

The Calzada of Guadalupe, the favorite prome- 



246 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



nade of Morelia, is in its way as perfect as the 
Champs Elysees. Along the sides of the stone- 
paved avenue extend stone benches and balus- 
trades, and above the heads of the crowds who 
flock thither day and night, arch the branches 
of the giant trees. The beautiful Calzada is crossed 




THE CALZADA, MORELIA. 



in one place by the equally beautiful aqueduct, 
which strides along on its slender legs, for some dis- 
tance beside the avenue. The promenade ends in a 
cluster of pretty parks, one of which, Aztec Park, 
is a very curious specimen of the tree-trimmer's art. 



MEXICAN VISTAS 247 

The sheared evergreens are cut in exact copy of the 
different Aztec gods, a style of ornamentation which 
speaks better for the sharpness of the pruning-knife 
than for the taste of the pruner. 

In one of the larger parks the band plays in the 
evening, and pretty bright-eyed women and gallant 
young Morelians flock to hear the music— which, I 
grieve to say, is distinctly bad. On the outside of 
the ring, on rough benches, sit the peons, regarding 
the scene with that air of dignified interest so differ- 
ent from the enthusiastic vivacity of the Cuban, 
The population of Morelia is, however, notwith- 
standing its seeming gravity, little given to anx- 
ious foresight, and it seems not at all to fear the 
prowling microbe. I was intensely interested one 
evening in watching the proceedings of a woman 
who was selling a high-colored, popular drink. A 
decent-looking Mexican of the middle-class bought 
a glass of the mixture. The woman added water 
and sugar to the liquor, stirred the whole with a 
brass spoon, tasted it, putting the spoon far back 
in her mouth, added more sugar, tasted it again, 
and with a final stir handed glass and spoon to the 
unconcerned purchaser, who swallowed the drink 
without blenching. 

There is a beautiful drive beyond the group of 
parks, which, as neither horse nor carriage is ob- 
tainable in Morelia, seems to be a waste of money 



248 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and energy. In the neighborhood of the concert 
park are the ruins of a romantic old chapel. 

The main plaza, which is also near the Cathedral, 
is called the Plaza of the Martyrs, in commemo- 
ration of a company of patriots who, in 1830, were 
executed upon the spot. Here also died, in the 
year 1814, by the decree of Iturbide, the patriot 
Matamoras. Indeed, Morelia is famous as the birth- 
place and the deathplace of heroes. The town, 
which was formerly called Valladolid, changed its 
name in honor of one of the best-loved of all the 
sons of Mexico — Morelos, the last man in the 
country to die by the Inquisition. The house where 
this brave man was born is designated by a plaque 
upon the wall. Within are shown portraits of the 
patriot and the handkerchief bound around his 
head when he was shot. Not far from the Ca- 
thedral is the old home of Iturbide, the first Em- 
peror of Mexico, who, although a fearless defender 
of his country's rights, was shot for assuming im- 
perial honors. Doubtless he thought, and with rea- 
son, that one who had suffered and sacrificed so 
much for Mexico was better fitted to be her ruler 
than a far-away Spanish prince. Unfortunately 
even the best of patriots are seldom Washingtons. 

Morelia glories in the fact that she has the oldest 
college in Mexico. In the city is also the peniten- 
tiary of the State of Michoacan, of which Morelia is 



MEXICAN VISTAS 249 

the capital, modeled after that of our own Pennsyl- 
vania. To a person who, after a long course of 
Mexican diet, still retains an appetite, the dulces of 
the town will appeal strongly, and perhaps there is 
no reason why they should appeal in vain. I am 
glad to add that, although Morelia has suffered 
much in the revolutions, she is now prosperous, 
and her inhabitants have the air of being well-fed 
and contented. On the whole Morelia seems to 
have the cleanest streets, the handsomest and most 
courteous people, the finest climate and the sweetest 
air in Mexico. 



250 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXV. 

The road from Morelia westward carries the 
traveler through the lake country of Mexico — a 
most picturesque region. About ten miles from 
Morelia are the famous hot springs of Cuincho, said 
to be a sovereign remedy for rheumatism ; but there 
is no hotel at the place, and there are no bathing 
facilities. When one remembers the numerous 
hostelries that surround our springs and the vol- 
umes of "analyses" that are distributed around the 
country, one may well doubt if the Mexicans are 
really akin to us. 

As we crossed the ranges of barren hills that lie 
an hour's distance from Morelia, we saw one of the 
native houses wrapped in flames. The owner and 
his neighbors were gathered around the blazing 
mass, wringing their hands and crying piteously. 
Doubtless the result of a whole life's work was 
represented in the simple household necessaries 
that were feeding the fire, but even in the ''lake 



MEXICAN VISTAS 25 1 

country" there was no water, and nothing could be 
done. 

One of the dreams of our Mexican jaunt had been 
the trip to Tzintzuntzan to see Titian's great picture 
of the Entombment. Whenever our discomforts 
seemed too unbearable we consoled each other with 
the reminder, 'Tn six weeks — in a month — in ten 
days, we shall see the Titian." So when we reached 
the station of Patzcuaro and saw the beautiful lake 
on the hither shore of which lay the promised 
vision, our exultation was great ; but it was destined 
to be of short duration. We had intended to make 
Patzcuaro our stopping place, but a glance at the 
bowlder-strewn road v/hich we must travel three 
miles in a worm-eaten carriage and in company 
with a dozen flea-bitten passengers to reach the 
city sufficed us. We concluded to postpone our 
visit to Patzcuaro, and to sit instead on the wide 
verandas of the hacienda on the shore of the lake 
and contemplate the scene. 

Lake Patzcuaro, dropped down among the bold 
mountains and dotted with rocky islands, is larger 
than the Swiss Lake Geneva, and is the highest 
body of navigable water on the Continent. The 
tall peaks of the islets were reflected in the shining 
mirror, there was a blue haze over all the picture, 
and not a puff of air disturbed the living canvas. 
The blue reaches of water, sizzling in the rays of an 



252 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



August-like sun, blinded and sickened me; and 
when I learned that, in order to reach Tzintzuntzan 
we should be obliged to spend the night at the 
hacienda, rise at four in the morning and sit all day 
flat in the boat at the feet of the dirty Indians who 
would paddle us across the lake, I thought of the 




HACIENDA AT LAKE PATZCUARO. 



hours of starvation — for we had found the prov- 
ender furnished by the hacienda impossible stuff — 
I looked at the lake swimming in the blue heat, and 
my decision was made. I assured Ahasuerus that 
if we attempted to cross that lake there would be 
three entombments instead of one, that I never my- 
self approved of Titian's personal character, that I 
had seen scores of Titians, and that I didn't believe 
the picture was a Titian anyway, and in short that 



MEXICAN VISTAS 253 

I wasn't going a step. To my surprise Ahasuerus 
took my decision with edifying meekness and we 
liied us hungrily away. And that is the true story 
of our trip to Tzintzuntzan to see the Titian. If we 
had been in the first flush of triumphant arrival in 
Mexico we should doubtless have been more per- 
severing, especially as we might have gone around 
the lake on horseback. Still a thirty-mile ride 
under the combined disadvantages of a Mexican 
saddle and a Mexican sun Would have been, even 
to an enthusiast, a trying experience. 

The guide-books all agree that Patzcuaro is a 
very curious old town, and so it is, and so are most 
Mexican towns. Patzcuaro does certainly possess 
the advantage of fresh fish two days in the week, but 
let not the famished wayfarer be too jubilant over 
that, for the "fish days" will surely come when he is 
not there. For the rest there is the usual assort- 
ment of smells and saints, booths and beggars, mar- 
ket women and mountebanks. The word Patz- 
cuaro signifies ''place of delights," but I think the 
ordinary traveler will take the "delights" soberly 
and without in the least losing his head. At all 
events, the familiar towers of Morelia looked very 
charming to us as we skirted the stream and rolled 
again into the pretty station. 

We left Morelia one morning by the freight train, 
that we might be sure of making connections with 



254 MEXICAN VISTAS 

the northbound express at Acambaro, as a break- 
fast we had encountered a few days before in that 
city did not incHne our hearts to stay over night 
there. Now Ahasuerus and I never did a particu- 
larly shrewd thing without fatal results, and on this 
occasion our usual fortune lay in wait for ns. We 
had a hot box ; we were shunted on to a side track, 
where we lay for hours ; we sat all day in a hot, 
stuffy caboose; and we had the satisfaction of 
seeing the distrusted passenger train rush past 
us on its way to make the desired connection, 
which it did for the first time in three months. 
However, we did not propose to be cast down by 
trifles, so we turned to exasperating fortune a smil- 
ing face, and insincerely congratulated ourselves 
upon the admirable opportunity given us to see 
Acambaro. In support of this position we ambled 
aimlessly up and down in the deep sand, and then 
came wearily back, and ate an unwashen supper 
with unwashen hands, while the household, with 
many maneuvers and much bustle, prepared our 
room for the night. The room at last assigned us 
was Number 9. Besides ourselves it had various 
other claimants. It belonged to a conductor who 
"run on Number Four," and an engineer who "run 
on Eleven," besides a train dispatcher and a Mexi- 
can commercial traveler who openly and violently 
accused us of stealing his "grip." These several 



MEXICAN VISTAS 255 

claimants, at intervals during the night, made their 
claims known by kicks and blows upon our portal, 
and by loud and emphatic cries of ''Open the door," 
"Come out of that, won't you?" "What are you 
doing with my grip?" and other embarrassing re- 
marks. We might have thought ourselves in the 
house of a tailor, and that every one of him had 
come home late. 

These individuals had hardly ceased the recital of 
their wrongs when it was time to get up and catch 
the morning train, so we stumbled sleepily down 
to our rolls and cof¥ee. I never think now of those 
early risings without a bone-aching, swimming 
sensation. If the time ever comes when Mexico is 
sufificiently civilized to introduce night trains, the 
lot of the traveler will certainly be less woeful. 



256 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

The combination of dirt and dulces in Celaya 
is altogether too overpowering for an American 
stomach. "Dulces?" I exclaimed to a persistent 
vender of the dainties. "Dulces in all this filth !" 
I spoke in English that I might spare his sensitive 
feelings, but I soon found the precaution useless, 
for neither dulce merchant nor opal peddler pos- 
sessed tender sensibilities. In spite of our most 
discouraging looks, the women and children on the 
pavement, the street-car conductors, the hotel 
clerks, bell-boys and waiters, in turn pulled from 
their pockets the familiar little packages of black 
paper, containing watery, lifeless opals, which they 
displayed to our wearied eyes, exclaiming "Bonita, 
senor; Muy hermosa, senoraT Sometimes these 
pertinacious venders baited their hook by address- 
ing me as "beautiful seiiorita" — an impolitic course 
of conduct which still further hardened my already 
flinty heart against them. 

Celaya is said to be a very interesting town, but 



MEXICAN VISTAS 257 

the atmosphere of the place did not harmonize with 
our mood, so we concluded to go on to Irapuato for 
the night. Here we found a frank-faced young 
American who took us to his little hotel, furnished 
with clean beds, snowy towels, and blessed hot 
water. We were in the seventh heaven and went 
to bed early that we might make the most of the 
delightful American springs and mattresses ; but 
our hopes of a refreshing sleep were soon dis- 
sipated, for a Mexican family next door proceeded 
to make the night hideous with their revels. In 
vain the guests appeared at their respective win- 
dows with pitiful protests, in vain the landlord 
argued and threatened. At four o'clock he was 
obliged to send for the police to compel order, and 
then it was time to get up for the morning train. 

We were blear-eyed and dizzy from sleeplessness 
when we boarded the Guadalajara train, and con- 
tinued on our weary round of pleasure. We were 
soon speeding through unpicturesque but fertile 
regions. The country west of Irapuato might, 
from outward seeming, be Illinois or Iowa, but the 
barns of the Mexican farmer are unique. They 
have roots, they increase in size from year to year, 
and they attend to their own repairs. In short, the 
trees are the barns, upon whose branches the two 
corn harvests of the year are stored during the long 
and rainless winters. This is one of the richest 



258 MEXICAN VISTAS 

agricultural regions in Mexico, and the haciendas 
look more modern than in other parts of the coun- 
try. At the station of Atequiza, a short distance 
this side of Guadalajara, is an immense hacienda 
which has its own railway and electric lights. 

We had promised ourselves a delightful season in 
Guadalajara, which is said to be the prettiest and 
most modern town in Mexico. If we were some- 
what disappointed I must lay it to the heat and the 
dust, and not to any lack in Guadalajara. The sea- 
son was late for pleasure-seekers, and we were the 
last of the winter tourists. I can imagine that when 
the rains come and wash o& the dust-buried roses, 
hibiscus and orange trees, and when the thousands 
of blooming plants in the plaza cast their fragrance 
on the soft air, that Guadalajara is a paradise. It 
certainly possesses one of the promised blessings 
of paradise — the houris — for the women of the town 
are, with few exceptions, beautiful. The proportion 
of white faces is larger than in the other Mexican 
cities, and if these dark-eyed daughters of the south 
possessed a queenly carriage they would be peer- 
less ; but, unfortunately for the doctrines of the 
Dress-Reform League, these women, the daughters 
of mothers who wore the rebosa, the chemise and 
the sandal, are entirely lacking in that grace and 
symmetry of form so natural to the whale-boned 
daughters of our own land. I fear we cannot give to 



MEXICAN VISTAS 259 

Greek raiment the entire credit for the wonderful 
perfection of the ancient Greek form. 

The pubHc buildings of Guadalajara are really 
fine. Over the doorway of one of the municipal 
palaces is this reminder, "Except the Lord keepeth 
the city, the watchman waketh in vain." Such an 
audacious mixture of politics and religion would 
surely be tolerated only in a half-civilized commu- 
nity. In the Cathedral of Guadalajara is one of the 
treasures of Mexico — an Assumption of the Virgin, 
by Murillo. The face of the Virgin is the same face 
of white innocence — a little older — that we know so 
well in the Immaculate Conception. The difficulty 
in seeing the picture amounts almost to a prohibi- 
tion, and the Mexican government should take 
steps to make the public sharers in the delights of 
this great painting. We made repeated unsuccess- 
ful attempts to see the treasure, but our determined 
perseverance at last won the day. Upon our first 
visit we were received by the doorkeeper of the 
Cathedral, who accepted a generous fee, and then 
handed us on to the sacristan — who also received a 
fee — and who ushered us into a dark, dirty closet 
where he left us with the request to "Wait a 
minute." We waited many minutes; then an 
acolyte came by, who to our request to see the pic- 
ture answered, "Wait a minute." Then a priest 
passed through the room who deigned to listen to 



260 MEXICAN VISTAS 

our prayer and who conjured us to "Wait a 
minute." Then the faithless sacristan again ap- 
peared and said, "Wait just a Httle minute, senor,'' 
and seemingly disappeared off from the face of the 
earth. But the chill of the stone bench upon which 
we sat, combined with our fiery, untamed American 
natures, moved us at this point to come away, 
grumbling at having wasted the whole forenoon in 
"waiting a minute." A few days after, however, 
we met in the Cathedral a party of the higher clergy 
who not only listened to our prayer, but courteously 
escorted us to the sacristy where the picture hung, 
and gave us permission to seat ourselves and study 
it at leisure. 

The markets of Guadalajara are the finest in 
Mexico. There is no suspicion of filth or decay in 
the bright fresh fruits and fragrant blossoms piled 
upon the long tables. The products of all climes 
are at the very door of Guadalajara, for although 
the town itself is in a temperate region, a descent of 
3,000 feet into the Barranca brings the traveler into 
the tropics. This is a hard trip, and an exciting 
one, down a narrow mountain trail where the 
pensive little donkeys, stopping to meditate, choose 
the most hair-raising precipices for their reflections. 
In the bottom of the Barranca runs the Lerma 
River, which is crossed by an absurd little ferry. 

There is, not far from the plaza, an Hospicio,much 



MEXICAN VISTAS 261 

applauded by the guide-books, which is supported 
by the government for the ostensible purpose of 
teaching useful arts to orphan boys and girls. As 
we were specially interested in this line of work, 
Ahasuerus took some trouble to obtain permits to 
visit the institution. When we arrived at the Ho- 
spicio we were given an application for rheumatism 
in the shape of seats on a cold, stone bench in an icy 
hall, where we waited an hour for the coming of the 
Sister who was to show us- through the building. 
When she did at last appear she seemed to be 
under the vow of perpetual silence. She galloped 
us through a long hall to a refectory dqor which she 
deigned to open an inch, gave us a peep into a dor- 
mitory window, hustled us through a gaudy, taste- 
less chapel, and back again to the door. Evidently 
the Hospicio does not approve of curious strangers 
who might ask questions. We saw few children, 
and those few were spiritless little souls, and there 
was no childish noise about the building. We 
could not help contrasting our reception and 
the seeming desolation of the place with the hospit- 
able air, and active, cheerful life of the government 
training school at Guadalupe near Zacetecas. 

During the first few days of our stay in Guadala- 
jara we went every evening to hear the band 
play in the beautiful plaza. The music was 
very good, and was enjoyed by an appre- 



262 MEXICAN VISTAS 

ciative and enthusiastic audience. The con- 
cert generally ended with ''Cuba Libre," whose 
strains elicited from the impulsive and liberty- 
loving Mexicans storms of applause. But one 
morning, when we went upon the street, we noticed 
an excitement among the people. Messengers with 
the left arm bound in crape were hurrying around 
distributing huge black-bordered envelopes. These, 
as we afterward learned, contained tidings of the 
sudden death of the general commanding the State 
of Guadalajara. There were no more park con- 
certs, and the city seemed restless and gloomy. 
Changes in the government are feared no less in 
Mexico than in France. 

One of the suburbs of Guadalajara is San Pedro, 
where live the famous potters who make the finest 
Mexican ware. The Mexican pottery is exceed- 
ingly fragile, and the utmost care is necessary in 
packing it for transportation. The few pieces in 
which I invested were soon nothing but glittering 
dust. The Indian sculptors whose work attracted 
so much attention at the Chicago Exposition have 
their workshop in San Pedro. They make little 
busts and statuettes, and for a small sum the trav- 
eler can, in a few hours, have a very satisfactory 
bust of himself or of his photographed friends. 

To reach the famous Falls of San Juanacatlan we 
went by rail to the little station of El Castillo, a 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



263 



distance of twelve or fifteen miles from Guadalajara. 
Thence we took a mule-car to the Falls. We had, 
on this expedition our usual escort of leather- 
jacketed soldiers, for no train or tram-car leaves any 
station in Mexico without this armed guard. Per- 
sonally I liked these toy warriors and felt very safe 








W'^. 



FALLS OF SAN JUANACATLAN 

in the shadow of their sombreros, but Ahasuerus 
openly scoffed at them, and declared that .they 
turned their toes in when they marched. Indeed, 
that zealous martinet evinced an inordinate desire 
to drill the entire Mexican army. 



264 MEXICAN VISTAS 

Under the protection of these pigeon-toed guard- 
ians of the repubhc we arrived safely at the Falls. 
San Juanacatlan bears a striking resemblance in 
miniature to Niagara. The Fall, which is about 
seventy-five feet high, must be a mine of wealth to 
the owner of the hacienda ; for it furnishes the power 
for lighting Guadalajara, and it will in future be 
pressed into service by a fine mill, as yet uncom- 
pleted, which is to be fitted with all the modern 
improvements in machinery. 

Our traveling companions on this trip were an 
interesting company. There was a bright-faced 
young Frenchman, a low-browed, unprepossessing 
Spaniard, a German commercial traveler, two 
courtly and affable Mexicans, a coffee-planter from 
the Isthmus of Tehuantepec who claimed citizen- 
ship in Kansas, and ourselves. There were all the 
materials for a successful composite photograph. 

The beautiful Lake Chapala, which lies in the 
foot-hills not far from Guadalajara, is the summer 
residence of the wealthy city people. Lake Cha- 
pala, which is one hundred miles long and twenty- 
five wide, is the largest lake in Mexico. The ver- 
dant rim of this charming basin of water is sur- 
rounded by handsome homes, and the hot springs 
along its shores furnish delightful and health-giving 
baths. Before we left Guadalajara summer was 
coming on apace, and the morning trains to Cha- 




X 



MEXICAN VISTAS 265 

pala were crowded with family parties — with pretty, 
modest maidens, short-jacketed youths, hunters, 
dogs and pleasure-seekers. It was the same scene 
we have so often witnessed in our own land, on the 
continent and in England. The summer-resort in- 
stinct seems to be a part of human nature, and it 
probably descends from as far back as Adam and 
Eve. I have no doubt that if the fair mother of 
the race had been allowed to remain in Eden she 
would have built a row of summer cottages and a 
summer hotel before the end of the second year. 



266 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXVIL 

The traveler should not fail to buy strawberries at 
Irapuato. They are brought to the train at every 
season of the year, and are always good, but in April 
they are in their perfection. They are packed hulls 
down in large baskets with curiously twisted 
handles, and the globes of vivid scarlet, seedless, 
pulp, as big as plums and as sweet as honey, are as 
tempting to the eye as to the palate. In nearly 
every state in Mexico just such strawberries might 
be raised, but for some reason Irapuato furnishes 
the only crop of the kind. 

We had another terrible night at Celaya, 
another struggle with filth, mosquitoes, dulce ped- 
dlers and opal venders, and then we turned our faces 
northward to San Luis Potosi, passing on the way 
the pretty city of San Miguel de Allende. This 
town has fine terraced gardens and a church with a 
pig-loving saint. The saint has a very dolorous 
outlook on the world, doubtless because his fine 
antique pig has been replaced by a hopelessly mod- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



267 



ern and porkish one. Another member of the 
canonized fraternity in the Casa Santa has had his 
bones inserted into a body of wax and endeavors to 
look as much Hke a sure-enough, Hve saint as pos- 
sible. 

San Miguel de Allende takes its name from the 
patriot and revolutionist Allende, who aided 
Hidalgo in his 
struggle for lib- 
erty. A short 
distance from 
San Miguel is 
the little town 
of Atotonilco, 
with the humble 
church from 
whose altar Hi- 
dalgo snatched the banner of Our Lady of Gua- 
dalupe — the banner which was to become the 
standard of Mexico. We had promised ourselves 
the privilege of a reverent pilgrimage to the town 
of Hidalgo-Dolores — to the home, the church and 
the beehives of our hero, but the town was infected 
with smallpox, and therefore unsafe for strangers. 
From Hidalgo-Dolores the young cure and 
patriot, issued his grito, or call to arms. To his 
holy standard flocked many of the neighboring vil- 




MEXICAN NAT. R. R. STATION, SAN LUIS 
POTOSI. 



268 MEXICAN VISTAS 

lagers, among them Allende, who brought with him 
the Queen's Regiment in which he was an officer. 

We found San Luis Potosi to be a great mining 
town, dusty and comfortless, with a sun-burned 
plaza. It, too, was infected with the smallpox, and 
we were glad to get out of it. The only impressive 
thing about our stay in San Luis Potosi was our 
first dinner, which consisted of five beef courses ; 
beef soup,, boiled beef with chili, a ragout of beef 
with carrots, roast beef, and a salad of cold beef and 
potatoes. I was reminded that I used in my school 
days to read in the Physical Geography, ''Man, in 
the tropics, lives principally on vegetable food." 

As we strolled one day through the town we met 
a party of excursionists who greeted us warmly and 
inquired, "What party are you with?" When we 
explained that we were our own party, they cried 
aghast, "What,, down here all alone !" Upon our 
further explauLtion that we had not been alone at 
all, but that in fact we had sometimes had only 
too much company, they regarded us with com- 
miseration, demanding as a final clincher, "But 
what have you had to eat?" It was impossible to 
convince these doubting souls that we quite often 
had a very fair meal, and that the French restaurants 
in the City of Mexico were as good as the ordinary 
restaurants in Paris. They evidently considered us 



\^ 



X, 



MEXICAN VISTAS 269 

very eccentric, and returned to their Pullman cars 
with an amusing assumption of superiority. 

From San Luis Potosi we took the ]\Iexican 
Central R. R. to Tampico, not because we wished to 
see Tampico, which is jungle-like and malarious to 
a degree, but because we wished to see the most 
wonderful bit of scenery in Mexico, the Tamasopa 
Cafion. As a sight-seeing expedition our trip was 
a failure, but as a stimulus to imagination it was 
eminently successful. Just before we reached 
Canoas, where the descent into the caiion begins, a 
heavy fog enveloped us. But the regular trains do 
not wait upon the weather, so we slipped by the 
long excursion train of our San Luis Potosi 
acquaintances, which was waiting for the weather to 
clear, and rolled over the edge of the precipice. It 
was a fairy-like experience. Sometimes we seemed 
to be adrift in fleecy vapors, sometimes to be 
running along the edge of the sky, looking down 
upon a shadowy world below. The white mist 
curled around us like feathers; giant branches of 
orchid-decked trees flashed out of the curtain and 
were gone again, and filmy masses of tropical vege- 
tation swung like cobwebs in the silver ether. Cer- 
tainly the ride down the cafion on a clear day can 
not be so magically beautiful as it was in the fog. 
The clouds lifted as we reached the foot of the 
descent and we found everything in the valley drip- 



270 MEXICAN VISTAS 

ping with moisture. The station of Rascon — ac- 
cording to railroad men the unhealthiest spot in 
Mexico — is situated in a moldy jungle. The com- 
pany intended to move their buildings to some place 
where the sanitary conditions are better, and per- 
haps they have done so before now. With the rail- 
road station will probably go the few squalid huts 
which form the so-called town. 

The accommodating fog lifted again long enough 
for us to see the wonderful string of cascades — El 
Salto del Abra — which are of the most exquisite 
tint of robin's tgg blue. This chain of waterfalls 
is more than a mile long, and one of the falls is three 
hundred feet high. Somewhere down there, where 
the river tumbles and foams, is Choy's Cave ; but as 
the regular trains do not stop for caves we were 
compelled to go mournfully on our way. 

The last grade — the Cafion of El Salto del Abra — 
took us down to the plains. At Las Palmas, at the 
foot of the descent, the trains from both directions 
were huddled, awaiting orders. The fog had inter- 
fered with the time table, and both engines and 
engineers looked sullen. We strolled around the 
little Chinese eating-house, taking notes of railroad 
complications and vexations. "Number Four" was 
lost. As the other engines came panting up to the 
station, the engineers rushed into the office to re- 
ceive their orders, and were met by an accovmt of 



MEXICAN VISTAS 27 1 

''Number Four's" delinquencies. I do not know 
how "Number Four," when she finally came in, 
explained her conduct, but she did come in safely 
at last, closely followed by the excursion train which 
we had left at Canoas, waiting for the weather to 
clear up. The excursionists had seen nothing at 
all of the wonders we had seen, and were damp, 
cross and disgusted. 

For some time after the arrival of the tardy trains 
Las Palmas was a scene of confusion, and I won- 
dered what the dead and gone Aztecs, sleeping in 
their ruined cities not far from us, would say if they 
could suddenly rise from their graves and hear the 
babble of strange tongues and the shriek of the 
monster engines. But one by one the long trains 
at last pulled out, and went winking of¥ into the 
night, while the east-bound passengers crossed the 
plains and the rivers Tamesi and Panuco, and in the 
darkness rolled into Tampico. 

Tampico resembles in some respects the Gulf 
cities of our own land. It is damp, unhealthy, odor- 
ous, but it has the best harbor in Mexico, and 
doubtless will be, in the near future one of the large 
cities of the republic. A fine beach about eight 
miles from the town furnishes delightful sea-bath- 
ing. The low shores, upon which Tampico is built, 
are uninteresting; but the high blufifs which rise 



272 MEXICAN VISTAS 

further back from the river might, and probably 
soon will be, utilized for residence purposes. 

As we journeyed back to San Luis Potosi we 
chatted with our fellow-passengers — American rail- 
road officials and employes, with their wives. 
After the manner of our sex, we women_ discussed 
together the subject of housekeeping, particularly 
the comparative advantages of housekeeping in 
Mexico and in the United States. I found that 
they were all homesick, and they gave but a sorry 
account of the domestic outlook for Americans in 
Mexico. It is difficult to find schools for the chil- 
dren, as it is dangerous to send a child to the 
municipal schools where contagious diseases are 
not quarantined. Then, too, household supplies 
are poor and high-priced. One cannot exist on 
drawn-work, silver filagree, leather belts or card 
cases, and these staples are almost the only cheap 
thing in Mexico. Fruit in tin cans costs $1.75 a can,- 
bacon from 60 to 80 cents a pound, butter from 80 
cents to $1. It is impossible to find shoes for 
American feet in the country, most of the clothing 
must come from the United States, and as the tarifif 
is high, dry goods are expensive. In short, a 
family can live better in the United States on a 
given salary than it can in Mexico on more than 
twice the amount. It was the same old story ; my 



MEXICAN VISTAS 273 

countrywomen, like all good Americans in a foreign 
land, felt themselves to be exiles in the midst of 
hardships. 



274 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

It was very hot the day we left San Luis Potosi 
and the unreasonable heat showed no sign of abate- 
ment, even after we had passed the stone that marks 
the location of the Tropic of Cancer and knew 
positively that we were in the Temperate Zone. 
Catorce, which lies buried in a deep chasm a short 
distance from the railroad, is one of the most pictur- 
esque towns in Mexico, and certainly merits a visit. 
But when we saw the beds of dust through which 
we must travel on foot or on horseback to reach 
that city of mines and abysses, no thrill of enthusi- 
asm stirred our investigating souls, and we retired 
beneath the curtains of the sleeper, with premoni- 
tions of a martyr's fate. It was then with delight 
that, when we were dragged from our beds in the 
dead of night, we found the last trace of the torrid 
zone had disappeared ; a north wind was blowing, 
and a cold rain, which fell like a benediction on our 
inflamed and sun-dried faces, was dropping steadily. 

To reach the battlefield of Buena Vista one must 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



275 



leave the train at Saltillo, a town about fifty miles 
trom Monterey. The battlefield is six miles from 
the town, and as Saltillo is as yet without street 
cars it is necessary to hire a carriage to make the 
trip. The battle of Buena Vista— or Angostura, as 
the Mexicans call it— was fought in a deep valley 
rimmed with mountains. In the midst of the valley 
rises a high plateau which falls away on both sides 
into sharp ravines. Upon this plateau General 
Taylor with an army of 5,000 men took his stand 
against 12,000 Mexicans, commanded by General 
Santa Anna. In the hard-fought battle which fol- 
lowed the Americans were victorious, although at 
a terrible cost of life. Among the killed were 
Colonel John Hardin and a son of Henry Clay. 
The Mississippi Rifles, commanded by Colonel Jef- 
ferson Davis, did valiant service in this battle. One 
of Whittier's early poems, "The Angels of Buena 
Vista," pays a most touching tribute to the Mexican 
women who ministered to our wounded after the 
battle. 

The great State of Coahuila, of which Saltillo is 
the capital, once included all of Texas. Although 
the United States has taken most of her territory, 
our country has as yet little influenced the capital 
city, which is thoroughly Mexican in its sentiments 
and customs. The chief business of the town is 
the manufacture of the Saltillo scrapes, which are 



276 MEXICAN VISTAS 

said to be the best made in the repubUc. The 
leisure hours of the citizens seem to be spent shrug- 
ging themselves in the folds of these serapes in the 
vain effort to warm their frozen bodies by the glow 






BISHOP S PALACE, MONTEREY, 

of the blankets' bright colors. In spite of our im- 
pressions, however, the climate is said to be delight- 
ful in pleasant weather. 

When we reached Monterey at four o'clock in the 
morning, it was cold and rainy, and we unpacked 



MEXICAN VISTAS 277 

the heavy wraps we had carried so long through 
the tropics. There was no conveyance at the sta- 
tion but an open street car with water-logged 
benches. So we were compelled to put ourselves 
to soak behind its dripping curtains during the long 
journey to the hotel, where we completed the 
hydropathic treatment by sleeping some hours 
between wet sheets. We arose betimes, and, voice- 
less and disgusted, after a mere pretense of break- 
fast, we went out to see" the town. 

Monterey can hardly be called a Mexican city. 
It has a large and constantly increasing American 
population, and American ways of doing business. 
Here, for the first time in Mexico, we saw drawn- 
work and opals take on American prices, and we 
found also American prices at the hotel — accom- 
panied by the very poorest kind of Mexican food 
and service. It will not be long, however, before 
Monterey, like Chihuahua, will lose the last ves- 
tige of its Mexican picturesqueness, and become ar. 
ordinary American city. Nevertheless, as its 
beauty depends in no small measure upon its na- 
tural situation, Monterey can never become wholly 
uninteresting. The great Saddle Mountain which 
overtops the busy streets is the only saddle moun- 
tain I ever saw which did not have to be explained 
to me; the saddle is actually visible to the naked 



278 MEXICAN VISTAS 

and uninstructed eye — a fact which of itself should 
make Monterey notable. 

To find any particular place in Monterey just take 
the Belt Line of mule-cars. Every other line in the 
city branches ofif from this, and if you miss connec- 
tions the first time, you can swing around the circle 
again. We took three swings before we finally 
found the trail to the Bishop's Palace, although 
most of the time the palace was in full view. This 
palace, which was built by one of Monterey's 
bishop's for a country home, was besieged and 
taken by our army during the Mexican war, and its 
capture gave the city into the hands of the Ameri- 
cans. After the fall of the citadel. General Worth, 
commanding the United States forces, entered the 
town, but finding its streets swept by the fire of the 
Mexican artillery, his troops broke through the 
walls of the houses, in this manner making their 
way from block to block, while the sharpshoot- 
ers from the roofs poured a ceaseless shower of 
bullets upon the heads of the city's brave defenders. 
Although I am aware that the officers and soldiers 
of the United States' army could, under the cir- 
cumstances, not do otherwise, still, I am never 
less proud of them than when I read the annals of 
the Mexican War. 

At present a garrison of Mexicans is encamped in 
the desolated halls of the palace, and the once beau- 



MEXICAN VISTAS 279 

tiful gardens are turned to waste land ; but at the 
foot of the hill, where lies IMonterey, rimmed round 
with majestic hills and mountains, are pleasant 
homes in sunny orchards and the air that rises to 
us is filled with the odor of orange blossoms. Surely- 
war never turned into desolation a more beautiful 
spot. 

A little river which has for its source the Oja 
Agua, runs through Monterey. It is crossed by a 
famous old bridge, La Purisima, the scene of one 
of the desperate stands made by the Mexicans 
against our troops. The Topo Chico Hot Springs, 
which can be reached by horse cars, are about four 
miles from the city. The drive to the springs 
through fields of waving grain — which in April are 
ripe for the harvest — is charming. The springs are 
said to be sovereign for rheumatism and kindred 
diseases. Whether or not they are curative, they 
certainly are cleansing and delightful. The water, 
which has a temperature of one hundred and six 
degrees, is soft as velvet and of a most beautiful 
blue color; the tubs are clean and although the 
great bath halls are cold and cheerless in winter, 
they must be refreshingly cool in summer. Near 
the bathhouse are two fairly comfortable hotels. 
One of them — built of black marble — makes some 
effort, I believe, to furnish modern accommoda- 
tions. 



28o 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



The windows of our room at the hotel looked out 
upon the little Hidalgo Park, in the center of which 
is a monument bearing a figure of the great patriot 
in whose honor it was named. The little plaza is 




HIDALGO PARK, MONTEREY. 



clean, and bright with flowers, a living contrast to 
the dead pile of awkward modern buildings, not far 
distant, which Monterey calls her Cathedral. 
Hidalgo among the flowers seems a type of life ever 
upspringing in comparison to the dead pile ot 
stones, and his uplifted hand seems to challenge the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 28 1 

verdict of that outlived church which excommuni ■ 
cated him and agreed to his death. As we all 
know, however, the conscience of the Mexican 
church has been its own challenger, and the remains 
of this, one of the greatest, if one of the most rebel- 
lious, of her sons, rests in her holiest place. The 
great plaza or Alameda at the other end of Mon- 
terey is a curious combination of American thrift 
.and the Mexican love for the picturesque. The 
plazas, as well as many of the streets and public 
buildings, were, at the time of our visit to Monterey, 
gay with bunting and floral decorations, as it was 
the anniversary of the retaking of Puebla from the 
French by President Diaz. 



282 MEXICAN VISTAS 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

We left Monterey one evening when the city was 
celebrating with the blare of trumpets and the flare 
of fireworks, her martial anniversary, and turned 
our faces homeward. All the next day we rolled 
through gorgeous gardens of orange, gold and 
scarlet cactus, and through fields of wavy mesquite, 
but we would have given all that tropic wealth of 
color and bloom for the blossom of our own dande- 
lion. We had had smiles and tears together, but 
for the moment we were only too glad to say good- 
bye to old Mexico, and greet again our own land ; 
that land we had left in peace, and which was now 
filled with the sound of marching troops and the 
trappings of war. Like loyal Americans every- 
where, we were anxious to be at home and bear our 
part in the great drama. 

It is much easier — and cheaper — to get in to 
Mexico than it is to get out of it. The little money 
that I had left in my purse was suddenly divided by 
two, and as an addition to my pecuniary distress the 



MEXICAN VISTAS 283 

Custom House officers, who on this side have a 
vigilant eye for smugglers, inquired the first thing 
if I had any drawn-work. Now why did they ask 
me that? Other women on the train brought 
through all sorts of contraband goods without any 
troublesome questions. Was it because I alone 
looked guilty? I am sure I did not feel so, for 1 
had known of hundreds of dollars' worth of drawn- 
work passing the border without challenge, and con- 
sequently I never thought of paying duty for my 
modest store. But the ways of the Custom House 
are past finding out. I have known women to 
smuggle with the greatest audacity, and without 
one word of suspicion, while the most pious and 
conscientious woman I ever knew was once accused 
of fraud, and with difficulty rescued her sealskin 
coat — which she had carried abroad with her the 
year before — from the clutches of the customs offi- 
cers. I suppose, however, that the officials must 
collect tariff from somebody, and perhaps they v/ere 
as lenient with me as the law allows ; at all events 
they did not make me pay any duty on my dear old 
Aztec gods, so I will forgive them. 

In spite of the Custom House we were radiantly 
happy when we had crossed the border and were 
really once more in the United States. We made 
our obeisances to the first derby hat we met, and 
the sight of the good American clothes, that looked 



284 MEXICAN VISTAS 

as if they would stay on, thrilled us with joy. To 
be sure our ardor was a little dampened by the ap- 
pearance of a particularly grumpy PuIIman-car con- 
ductor, and when we reflected that we had never 
seen a discourteous act or heard a discourteous 
word from any railway or street-car employe in 
Mexico, our patriotic pride was a little staggered; 
but fortunately we remembered, just in time to save 
our feelings, that the American, in spite of his un- 
Chesterfieldian ways, doubtless possessed manly 
qualities unknown to the polite Mexican. He cer- 
tainly had the ruder, and, let us hope, the stronger, 
virtues. 

And the wooden shanties along the road — how 
delightfully clean and fresh their unpainted walls 
looked to us ! Who is it that says our wooden 
cabins are undignified, inartistic? To be sure they 
are cold in winter and warm in summer, but the 
fresh air blows through them and the hot sun sizzles 
out their germs and there is no incrusting filth of 
generations on their walls. Then how easily they 
burn up when their day of usefulness is over; and 
even if they do burn up their inmates, that at least is 
a clean death and far better than poison by typhus. 
Yes, I love even the wooden shanties of my own 
country, and, in spite of mental reservations on the 
subject of the Mexican war, I am so proud to have 
been born in the United States, that, if I could fight 



MEXICAN VISTAS 



285 



for the dear old land with baking powder instead of 
gunpowder, I would be one of her most valiant de- 
fenders. 



• • • • • 



• • • • • \» • 



THE END. 




